Fragile
by seven days later
Summary: Is she really as tough as she acts, or is she just like everyone else?
1. Chapter 1

_Set after Decoy Effect, when Don screams at Nikki after she risks her life in that van. Rated T for some language, and nasty thoughts. Just so you know, there will be no character death in this fanfiction, despite the implications of the first few chapters. Would I really do that to my favourite characters?_

_Enjoy_

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**Chapter One**

Nikki positively seethed. Well, negatively in fact. Either way, lightning buzzed between her intensely curly hairs and whoever she passed in the corridor to the kit room gave her a considerably wide berth.

How dare he speak to her like that! Yeah, maybe she could have handled things a little better out there in the field, but there was no need for the humiliation, in front of the whole office. She got the job done, didn't she?

Nikki wrenched her weapon from her waistband, pulling her jacket off her shoulders with such force that it almost ripped. When Don entered, feeling guilty about his earlier harsh words, he fully expected steam to come pouring from her ears and her eyes to glow red.

Instead, she gave him a curt nod, acknowledging his presence.

"Eppes." He rolled his eyes in reply, knowing fine well that she was angry, and wondering if maybe she had the right to be.

"Don't be like that." She continued to take off her utility belt, her movements jerky and unpredictable. Angry.

"Sorry." Her voice blatantly lacked sincerity, but was rife with sarcasm. "What do you want me to be like?" He crossed the room in two complete strides, leaving the door half open and ignoring the wariness in Nikki's eyes as he came closer.

"I want you to act more responsibly." He leant against the lockers, trying to look into her face. Trying to gauge how she was feeling.

"Really? You could have just talked to me in here, where the whole office wasn't in on it." He gave a half amused, half indignant snort, making her eye him critically. "What?"

"Don't think you get special treatment just because you haven't seen how everything works around here." Pausing in what she was doing, she stared at him, disbelief apparent on her face.

"What?" Her voice, already higher than his, rose by two octaves. "Talking to me in private would only be special treatment if you treated everyone else like crap too."

"Betancourt-"

"I get that I'm the newbie. I need to go through some sort of crowning FBI ritual, to be accepted as part of your team. I get that; I had to do the same exact thing when I went through LAPD. But this is nothing to do with the mission, you just don't like me." Don scoffed.

"That's ridiculous. You're being paranoid, Betancourt." Sure, he didn't agree with her methods, or the way she talked to her superiors, but that didn't mean that he didn't like her. He liked her sass; he thought it refreshing and to tell the honest truth, it seemed to work for her. "I told you before, Betancourt, you have nothing to prove to me." She made a show of ignoring him, knowing that what she'd said was wrong. She had no right to tell him what he was thinking, but she was just so damned angry!

In an attempt to force her boss to leave the room, she unbuttoned her blouse, facing him with her eyes never leaving his, and pulled it off so violently she suspected she might have ripped a seam. Don tried not to notice how her small yet fleshy breasts bulged from their simple black holsters, and looked away, his mouth suddenly dry.

"I'm not trying to prove myself, Eppes." The frustration was clear in her voice; she sounded almost pained. "You just chewed off my head because I went for the alpha, when that was our objective!" Don shook his head, his own frustration growing. Jesus, this one was almost as stubborn as Charlie.

"No, I chewed your head off because you nearly got yourself killed!" Nikki threw her blouse to the ground, and Don looked away as his mind was distracted by the way her exposed body moved.

"No," She started, voice shaking with rage. "You chewed my head off because I broke procedure!" With considerable force, she pushed him square in the chest, to prove a point. He was pushed back slightly, though she was not victorious for she felt like she had just slapped a brick wall. Which continued to shout at her.

"The rules are there for a reason-"

"Don't you bloody patronise me!" Nikki screamed. Heads turned in the nearby office, and agents peered through the half open door with quiet interest. "I made a judgement call, and it paid off!"

"It just as easily might not have!"Don couldn't help but to shout, frustration bubbling then bursting forth, his own words beyond his control. "I mean, do you have a death wish or something?" Nikki turned back to her locker, voice subdued slightly.

"Get over it Eppes. You can't control everything." It was a defence mechanism; when threatened, Nicole Betancourt lashes out at what is scaring her. In this case, it happened to be Don.

His voice immediately quietened. All of those who truly knew him well, or who had worked with him for any long amount of time, knew that this was quite possibly where the real trouble began.

"What did you just say to me?" He asked, his voice low but dangerous. Nikki, too angry to notice the change in his tone, replied with a shout, her voice echoing through her locker.

"I do not have a death wish, Eppes. I just want to get the job done, which is a good thing!"

"Then do it properly." He bitched, his voice flat and emotionless. Not shaking, nor loud. Just deadpan, as if he had disconnected his emotions from the conversation.

"What do you care? Agents die all the time and you clearly don't want me as your partner." Her boss' face did not change, soberly staring into hers, as hard and emotionless as granite. Don, however, was baffled.

"If all of us had that mentality, Quantico would be working double time to replace all of the agents risking their lives over nothing." Nikki shook her head again, facing her open locker. "And I don't not want you as my partner, I just don't want you doing anything stupid. If you're gonna be on my team, I'm going to need to trust you."

"Why are you here?" Not wanting to completely answer that question, and not entirely knowing how to, Don evaded.

"I work here, Betancourt." If looks could kill, an Eppes barbecue would be cooking.

"Don't mess with me, Eppes." She growled, her tone deeper and nastier than he had ever heard it, in the two weeks they had been partnered together. "You made your point out on the floor. What are you doing in here, except watching me undress, that is." He slammed her locker shut, making her jump backwards in alarm and shrink away from him. The expression on her face was one of true fright, Don almost backed down when he saw the apprehension in her eyes. She really thought that he was going to hurt her.

"I'm here to make sure that you don't make any more mistakes like the one you made today." He rook his flattened palm off the cool blue metal of her locker, and it swung ajar, creaking ever so slightly in the silence that followed his words. Neither paid it any heed. "Believe it or not, Betancourt, I don't want you dead."

Nikki shrugged.

"What does it matter, I only have a few more years anyway." She muttered, to herself. It was meant as an offhand comment, solely for her own musing, but Don caught it. Almost immediately after the words had left her mouth, she broke eye contact. Yet, she continued talking; a technique used to distract him from her previous words. "You're just trying to cover your ass. If I die, you have one hell of a lot of paperwork to do-"

"Wait, what?" She didn't really mean what she had just said; it was the only thing she could think of when her head was full of annoyance and anger. So she ignored his confused expression and continued.

"But you're going to have to deal with it Eppes, because-"

"What do you mean; you only have a few years anyway?" He didn't miss the nervous twitch of her left hand, or the swallowing action that she made.

"Agents die all the time." Her lie was as swift and untraceable as her truths, years of LAPD perfecting her already higher than average ability to deceive. Don saw right through it.

"That's not what you meant." He said, quietly, trying not to tempt her to shout again.

"What the hell do you know about what I meant? You don't know me! You're my boss, not my friend! You're here to shout at me and sign my pay checks, not braid my hair and chat as we watch Ralph Fiennes and Jennifer Lopez falling in love! Don't presume you know so much about me, Eppes," she took two steps towards him, and he took one back. They touched every time she inhaled, the half exposed skin of her heaving chest pressing against his. "Because you don't." He felt a shudder quivering against his nerve endings, and he tried his best to suppress it.

"I know all I need to know that you were lying just there." His tone was carefully controlled, and constructed to sound even; as if he was the boss, and he was on top.

Nikki looked down, her anger failing her, leaving an oddly lost feeling; the room growing colder and her body growing smaller. She suddenly felt very exposed, and crossed her arms across her chest, shielding her chest from Don's view. He was grateful.

"Let it be, Eppes. You have no business meddling in affairs you couldn't possibly understand." The look of shock, fading annoyance and puzzlement on her boss' face hurt her, because despite their current dislike for each other, she hated keeping secrets from him. He was right; they were partners now, and they needed to learn to trust one another.

She supposed that he would kind of understand her situations. After all, he, like she, had lost his mother. Although it was just over five years ago now, and pain and anguish had faded to acceptance, they will never vanish completely.

The main difference was that he knew his mom. He knew that there were risks of having cancer – he was genetically predisposed to it. He has had time to think and to adjust to the fact that he could, at some point, be dying, and he would be prepared – as much as he could be – for any such news. As supposed to Nikki, who was still reeling from the news that her father had delivered, merely two days ago, in an attempt to make her quit her new dangerous job at the FBI.

It wasn't cancer though; like Mother Eppes, and it wasn't even confirmed. Nikki just knew that her mother – the one who she had grown up thinking left her father for another man – died because of it. And there was a pretty good chance that she would too.

Taking a deep breath, Nikki turned away from her boss, breaking his strong gaze and facing her cold lifeless locker instead.

"Go back to work, Eppes. We've made enough office rumors for today." Don glanced to the door, where sure enough, several agents were accumulated, intrigued by the two partners within. They scattered, obviously, as soon as he turned his head, fixing them with an icy stare.

"Tell me about it." Sighing, she shook her head. All the fight had left her, and she pulled her discarded jacket across her chest, very conscious of her lack of clothing, and how close they were.

"Maybe another time."

"Tell you what, I'll bring 'Maid in Manhattan' if you bring the ice cream." Despite her anger, and her emptiness, a small tired smile made its way to her lips. She rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe that you got that reference." He grinned, making her smile wider.

"It's my job to know things." He was rewarded with a chuckle, and his anger dissipated. Don felt much more at ease.

"You like that film? You're such a girl, Eppes." He let his smile fade, knowing that the short, good-humoured banter was just a way to put their fight on hold. It wasn't finished until she told him what he needed to know. Partners have no secrets; if they always know what's going on with each other, it's so much easier to take the fall for the person who they trust the most in the world.

"Don't worry me like you did today." Realising that she wasn't going to give anything else up today on the subject, or in fact a distantly related subject, he sighed.

What could be so terrible that she couldn't tell him about it? Past her magnetic field for trouble, and coarse East LA justice, she was good at what she did; she was an honest woman. Don couldn't deny that she had potential to be as good, if not better, an agent as he is now, but whatever this was bout, worried him immensely. Her sass was flattened by just touching on the subject; what would happen if whatever it was happened? Why did she only have a few years?

He wanted to teach her, to make her a great FBI agent, but simultaneously he wanted to protect her young soul from the dangers of the big bad world. Mind you, that's just he beginning of everything he wanted to do with her. A student should never die before his teacher; that's what his dad always used to tell him. If there was an issue with trust, he needed to address it as soon as possible before it endangered either – or even both – of them. But how?

Don closed the door on the way out, and Nikki felt the last of the warmth in the room melt away like butter on the sidewalk on a hot California Sunday; seeping through the cracks between the slabs and evaporating, disappearing without any proof that it was ever there at all.

She shivered, and continued to undress.

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_Review to find out what's wrong with Nikki, and spend some time with the rest of the team. x_


	2. Chapter 2

The case had been closed and the others were celebrating, but all that Nikki wanted to do was curl up on her couch with her old friends Ben, Jerry, Mulder and Scully. So she said goodbye to the team, claiming that she was having dinner with her parents, and left them where they were waiting for two mathematicians and a physicist in the emptying bullpen. She made her slow progress to the elevator. Ends up the gentleman in the van gave her a few more bruises than had been noticed in the heat of the moment, and the subsequent rainstorm that followed.

Nikki had made a direct effort not to be left alone in a room with her boss since their encounter in the kit room. She knew that he was not going to just drop his line of interrogation; when Don Eppes wants to know something, at the end of the day he knows it. Another reason that she didn't want to go out for drinks tonight. With one beer in her, she's more likely to blurt out her life story to her annoyingly persuasive partner that she is with none.

Walking across the underground parking lot, wishing for nothing more than to get into her car safely and soundly, and drive home listening to cranked up Springsteen with the windows wide open and the heat on full blast, she groaned internally as a car she recognised as Charlie's pulled into the parking lot. She had grown quite fond of the resident geeks over the few weeks which she had known them, and she would hate to turn down spending some quality time listening to their math banter. It was bad enough seeing the disappointment on Liz's face, who was delighted to have another girl on the team and wanted to get to know her better.

Trying to angle her face away from Charlie's car and cursing her distinctive hairstyle, Nikki increased her speed as Charlie pulled into a nearby spot. Quickly, hoping for a quiet and uneventful escape from a depressing moment, she pulled her keys out of her pocket.

Hearing the engine stop and a door open – presumably Charlie's because his was the voice she heard next – she realised that she wasn't going to reach the car in time.

"Yeah, I'll go tell them that we're ready; someone can come with us and the others will fit in Don's car." The voice was clear; echoing in the underground car park. Then: Amita's voice.

"Look, is that Nikki?" Closing her eyes and wanting the ground to swallow her up, formulating her tired lie in her head again and feeling bad for making it up in the first place, Nikki stopped short, waiting for one of them to call her name. They didn't. She heard car doors opening and the scuffling of shoes, but no one called her back.

Daring to peek behind her, to see if they had taken the hint and that she was tired and going home, she came up with nothing. Rationalising that they had entered the main building already, she relaxed, and turned around to carry on her way. But something itched. There was this niggling feeling in the back of her skull: why would they leave the car doors open? And who the hell walks that fast?

Nikki didn't know what it was, but something was wrong.

Unnerved by the inexplicable turn of events, Nikki hesitated then leant backwards, trying to catch a visual on one of the three brilliant minds. Nothing.

Apprehension mounting, she retraced her steps, keys still hanging from her hand, jangling eerily in the quiet as she moved. Were they hiding? If so – Why? Out of habit and common sense, Nikki's hand hovered over her weapon.

"Charlie? Amita?" Her voice was low; hardly audible yet deafening in the giant expanse of vehicles and solid concrete. Nikki, as always, kept one eye on the door. "Larry? Seriously guys, stop messing about."

As she rounded the back of their car, careful not to let the heels of her boots touch the floor and make a noise, she could have sworn she heard someone crying. That was the moment which Nikki thought it was a good idea to phone for help. She had just brought out her phone, and had dialled speed dial one – Don – when she heard the clear scuff of a shoe behind her.

Dropping to her knees to avoid a head on collision with whoever it was sneaking about between the SUVs, she drew her weapon and came face to face – or rather, gun to gun – with the one and only Ian Edgerton.

Frozen with her finger poised over the trigger, Nikki barely breathed as he slowly raised his finger to his lips in the universal "shut up or you're toast" sign. He let his gun fall slightly, still alert and upright, just no longer pointing at her face. Nikki too lowered her gun, but she was far from relaxed. She felt guilty for the initial urge she felt to pull the trigger; as if he was the enemy.

Beckoning, Ian circled around her a peered around the edge of the car, not appearing to see anything. He mouthed the words "stay down" and she did; he was more experienced than her. In the field, the more experienced agent is always in charge.

Suddenly, an engine revved and the headlights of the car two SUVs down sprung on, a couple of cars in the opposite direction to where they were looking.

Nikki threw herself back; just in time as the small black van with a Florida licence plate sped into the space she had barely vacated seconds earlier, leaving a massive dent in Charlie's car. Springing up and running after it, Ian close on her heels, Nikki ignored his yells for her to stop. He only wanted her to stop because he didn't want her in the lead. He didn't want her to get hurt. Gritting her teeth, the East LA ex-cop sped up, thinking to hell with him. If she let these guys get away with Charlie, Eppes was going to shoot her anyway.

Although she was seen, clear as day, in the rear-view mirror of the van, it only sped up; its bulk hurtling towards the traffic barrier at the exit at twenty miles an hour and accelerating at an exponential rate. Bringing up her gun, she squeezed off two rounds at the back of the van. It was too risky to try and shoot out the tyres – if she missed; she might end up blowing the whole damn thing up. The irony would be embroidered with fucking gold if she ended up killing the people she was trying to rescue.

Immediately, as if whoever was holding the Uzi had been expecting it, the door to the back of the van flew wide, and he opened fire, black eyes wide through the tiny holes in his charcoal ski mask. Nikki just had time to see two handcuffed figures and another masked one behind Mr. Uzi before she spun behind a washed-out white reconnaissance van, the greyish expanse blocking not only the van from view, but also the offensive spray of bullets.

She was pretty sure that her shots went wide, which was good. At this distance, while the vehicle was moving so erratically at that speed, she wouldn't dare take a shot at the man without risking a hit to the two handcuffed figures. Nikki would wonder later about why there was only two and not three, hoping that one of them had just preferred to stay at home tonight, or late at the office.

Mid-turn, as she threw herself behind the van – a searing pain between her shoulder blades trailing across her left scapula, occupied by a ripping noise as her shirt split open. She only felt the pain once she hit the ground.

Screaming an ugly syllable to the echoing garage, she hid beside one of the giant tyres of the greying surveillance van she was taking cover behind, as the bullets skittered around her ricocheting off the cars metal surfaces at all angles at every speed imaginable.

There was a shrill ringing moment of silence; the bullets had paused and Nikki was just about to journey from her safe haven to scope out the situation when the unmistakeable sound of the van carrying her newly acquired and unfortunately kidnapped friends crashed through the traffic barrier at the exit, silencing the yells of the security guard on duty.

Immediately, disregarding her safety completely, she ran out from behind the van, ignoring the pain shooting across her back. There was nothing left to see; no van, and no scientists. Merely the remainders of the destroyed barrier and the metallic stench of gunpowder and car exhaust fumes remained; the only evidence that anything had happened at all.

Reaching the debris and gracefully tripping over it, she took in the security guard's body and felt decidedly nauseous. Ian appeared behind her, gun held by his side and phone to his ear. He laid a hand on her back, clearly not realising that she was heart. By the sound of his one sided conversation, he was calling security, which was already starting to appear through the huge metal doors to the garage, guns drawn. They were a little too late.

Ian hung up, and grabbed her by the arms, trying to look into her face. Her vision swam: his features blurred and merged into an unrecognisable blob.

"Ian..." She croaked, trembling. He appeared to realise that something more than shock was wrong, and his forehead creased in worry.

"Nik, what's wrong?" She shook her head, which he failed to interpret. "Were you hit?" Taking his hand away from her back, he noticed the blood seeping through her shirt and truth be told, he panicked a little bit.

Immediately, he pulled his cell phone back out and called the switchboard. They had medics on site already – the FBI was a place containing several stubborn, reckless adrenaline junkies who didn't know their foot from their face. Or for someone else's, the way they carried on. Yes, the FBI was a place where medics were _always_ required.

The street where the van had turned out was empty, though cars had stopped left, right and centre; their horns penetrating the otherwise silent LA night. Sirens could be heard in the distance. The van had taken an unknown route and for once, they could not rely on Charlie to find it.

Below all of the high pitched screeching of the pandemonium ensuing around her, Nikki swore she could hear a low, whining noise. A man, groaning for help. Feeling unsettled and unnerved, she sprinted back to Charlie's car, following her instincts and her ears and hoping to God that noise was what she thought it was.

Proving her half right, a singular form lay on the ground, answering her earlier question on why there were only two forms in the back of the van.

"Larry!" She dropped to her knees by his side, immediately producing a key; the handcuffs looked like FBI issue. Luckily it worked, and she freed Larry's hands, which fell limply by his half conscious form. Checking his pulse, Nikki redirected the medic, who had just arrived, to him instead, much to Ian's displeasure. She backed away, waiting for another medic, and letting her colleague and occasional lover take over the scene.

Whether it was from blood loss, exhaustion of utter shock at the series of events which had brought her there, Nikki's vision of the scene began to fade, and she fell against the newly arrived medic. Agents were now piling onto the scene, weapons drawn and cell phones in hand, but she took no heed. She was too tired. Chaos was the last thing that she remembered.

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Short one here: Sorry for that. I know, I know... Charlie's in trouble! Can you handle it, or will you have to review to show your displeasure? I can only write his rescue if you review...

I'm sorry, that was backhanded. I'll save him anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

The light was deafening, blurred lights and voices hit Nikki like a mobile brick wall, muddling her senses into a pool of nausea and disorientation. With great effort, she lifted her head off the stretcher she had been lain on, face down. Immediately, someone shoved her head back down into the towel which was acting as a makeshift pillow.

"Stay still, Agent Betancourt." Nikki mumbled something rude in reply, but all the medic heard was a questionable mumble. That was good; things would probably work smoother that way. "This will hurt a little." Nikki wouldn't be surprised if the whole of LA heard what she said next, although it was completely justified. 'A little' was apparently a relative phrase. The searing pain scored across her back, as the paramedic antiseptisised her gunshot wound, and bandaged it. Her scream of pain and obscenity had summoned Colby and Liz, who were waiting nearby.

"Nikki!" Ignoring the medic's protest, and pulling herself upright, Nikki held a towel against her chest, upon realising that she was exposed. The view for the rest of the agents in the garage was blocked by the ambulance, parked haphazardly in the middle of the underground car park. "Nikki, are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not bloody okay..." The young agent hissed, in so much pain that she had to suppress a gagging motion. "What's happening?" Her voice was low, and slightly groggy. Liz shot her a sympathetic look, and moved forwards so that their conversation did not have to be yelled over the fray around them. The crime scene was still in chaos. "Charlie and Amita... and Larry... is Larry okay?"

"Larry's on route to the hospital, you haven't been out of it as long as you think you have been. We have an APB out on the van, but God knows how that's going to turn up. They've probably dumped it already." Colby cut in, but kept his distance, clearly not wanting to invade her privacy. If the medic would have let him, he would have been a gentleman and given her his coat. "They think Larry's going to be okay, but he keeps talking about the cosmos. Normally, we wouldn't think there would be anything wrong, but in this instance, we know that he has concussion. The doctors think there'll be no lasting damage though." Liz blocked the view from the corner of the van where the crime scene was visible.

"We would have sent you too, but Don wanted to keep you here. If you saw anything..." Nikki dropped her chin to her chest, staring at the ground and thinking as hard as she could. Trying to force her groggy mind to remember. They clearly hadn't given her any medication, but she didn't know whether the pain was making her memory worse than the meds would have. She had seen a plate; she made a note to remember it. The amount of times witnesses had forgotten the plates pissed her off, so she always remembered to check plates.

Automatically, she reeled off a number, which Colby quickly jotted down and ran off with, pulling out his phone as he went. Liz nodded, eagerly.

"Anything else?" Nikki furrowed her brow. She would start from the beginning.

"I was going to my car when Charlie, Amita and Larry pulled in. I just wanted to get home, so I kept on walking." She admitted, with a hint of regret. Maybe if she'd wanted to see them that night, they wouldn't be in the hands of killers. "Then, I heard something and they were gone and I had a real bad feeling about everything." She wrapped the towel around herself, wincing as it touched her back, and letting the material gape around her wound. The medic looked pissed off, but conceded to work sideways instead. "Then, I met Agent Edgerton coming around from the back of another car, I don't know what he was doing down here, I thought he was in Kentucky. Anyway, the van drove past, I shot at it. I counted Charlie and Amita in the back of the van, and three kidnappers including the driver. It looked professional: they all wore ski masks and one of them carried an Uzi. I don't know if the others were armed, I only got a quick look at them. I have no ID for them, I don't even know definitively how many of them there are." Nikki hugged the towel around her, suddenly very cold as tears threatened. She felt so useless.

Liz seemed to feel her thoughts, and placed a warm, comforting hand on her colleague's bare shoulder. She knew how stressful the job was, and she knew what being the new guy was like, but this was nothing to do with that. Guilt could destroy an innocent person, she had seen it many times before. And even though she didn't know Nikki that well yet, she knew that she was innocent, and she could tell from her expression and the salty tears welling up in her eyes that given another chance to save their friends, she would have gladly taken another bullet. That was worthy of at least a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back. You focus on getting better, and we promise that we'll keep you aprised." She stood and walked away, and Nikki valiantly tried to follow. The medic, though, decided that he'd had enough.

"Whoa, back up there lady." He interrupted. "You're not supposed to be standing, let alone walking. You need to come with me to the hospital-" Nikki shoved him back, unfortunately losing her already weak balance as she did so. She really hated hospitals. Trying to call back Liz, her small voice was covered by sirens and agents shouting. The medic softened when he realised her panic, and took her gently by the arm, letting her stand, but limiting her to the area by her stretcher.

"I need to help." She swallowed, hard. "Please, you have to let me stay." His heart went out for the kid. He had been a paramedic for twenty years, and this loyalty and bravery was rare. Knowing that he would have to make the best decision for her health and say to hell with her feelings, he couldn't make eye contact.

"You need to get this checked out by another doctor, just to check that there's nothing that I missed. It's just a graze, but I've seen complications arise from splinters which have left people with no choice but to amputate. And since it's your back we're talking about, I'd be worried about paralysis." Nikki shook her head.

"It's just a graze. Please, I want to help with the investigation. I'll sign forms which say you're not liable, I'll-"

"It's not about signing forms, lady." He insisted. "I don't care about liability." He didn't. "I'm making the best decision that I can, based on your health." Nikki sighed, and shook her head, although she had barely any strength to argue. She had been tired at the beginning of the night, and that was _before_ Mr. Uzi got all trigger happy on her. However, she was saved from any more argument by a solid form, which stormed around the back of the ambulance with an air of anger, determination, and authority.

"Hey, Betancourt." Don barked, shaking with anger and mixed emotion. He felt for her; she looked so helpless on that table that it reminded him of their encounter in the kit room. His voice softened considerably as he got nearer. He wasn't angry with her, he wasn't even angry with himself, Charlie, Amita or Larry. He was just angry. "What happened out there?" Nikki shook her head, making the world spin. Between facing a man who quite possibly had just lost his brother and a hospital, she knew which one she would choose.

"I've given my statement to Liz, and I'll give another one officially once I get upstairs. Plus, Edgerton probably knows just about as much as I do." She said, solemnly, tears forming in her eyes. She looked down, to hide them from her partner. He was still almost a stranger to her. She never cried for strangers. Eppes' face hardened grimly as soon as Nikki mentioned Edgerton's name, and his fists balled. Ian Edgerton, he was angry with.

"Yes well, he's not exactly forthcoming." He said, voice shaking with rage. Nikki frowned.

"What do you mean, he's not forthcoming? He was there... is he not cooperating with your investigation?" Don shook his head bitterly, though he wasn't saying no.

"The investigation belongs to him now. Apparently that's why he was here tonight: he's heading up a new team and his authority seems to supersede mine. I know I have emotional connections with this case, and I know that the rest of my team do too, but he can't cut us out completely!" Blankness numbed Nikki's mind, and the fuzziness in her brain caused her to register his words slower that she normally would.

"He's cutting you out? He can't do that though... you're family of the victim." Don winced immediately at the use of the word victim, and Nikki immediately regretted using it. "You deserve to be in on this!" The medic moved forwards, between the two partners, a slightly apprehensive look on his face as he stood before the physically intimidating and absolutely raging Donald Eppes.

"I'm sorry sir, we're going to have to take Miss Betancourt to hospital, we only kept her here so she could give a rough statement for the case. Now though, she needs to be checked over by a doctor in more sterile conditions." The paramedic shrank back as Don glared at him.

"She's not going anywhere, you hear me?" Nikki was relieved that she had Don to fight for her. He was strong, persuasive and stubborn as hell. He would no doubt win any argument that she couldn't. "She's staying here so she can help with the case."

"I cannot stress enough about the extent of her injuries-"

"I have a graze." Nikki shot in from the side, still holding the towel to her chest. "It's not like it even went that deep."

"Is this about liability? I'll sign the forms-"

"This is not about liability!" The medic said, slightly angry himself now. "It is in the best interest of the patient that she sees a doctor immediately, and for regular intervals within the next forty-eight hours. She also needs to be watched, so she does not fall unconscious-"

"I completely agree." Both the medic and Nikki were taken aback at Don's sudden statement.

"You do?" They asked, simultaneously. Don nodded, gravely.

"Yes, and we have doctors upstairs in the medical suite. There, everyone wins. I'll have two of them come down and transport her upstairs, where you can sign her off into our care." The medic sighed. He supposed that would do, he only hoped that this Agent, who appeared to be in charge, knew what he was doing.

"I don't need to sign her off, you can just take her, though as soon as everything settles down a little I strongly advise you to visit a hospital. Also, make sure that she is accompanied at all times during the next forty-eight hours at least." He turned back to Nikki, smiling weakly. "I envy your strength, Miss Betancourt, and I wish you well." He packed up his bag and left, nodding to Don on the way past. It was only when he had driven away when Nikki realised something.

"Where's my shirt?" With the ambulance gone, her chest was covered only by a towel, and some of the younger agents were beginning to stare. Don pulled his sweater over his head, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath, and offered it to her. With a grateful smile and a wince, she took it and walked slowly behind a nearby SUV to begin the painful and laborious process of actually putting it on. When she had finished, the pain in her back acute and aching at the same time, she followed Don across the crime scene.

"You're going to be checked over by the doctors in the medical suite before you can come back onto the scene. Not that either of us are going to have anything to do with the case..." Don rubbed his face, looking absolutely exhausted, and Nikki stood close to him as they stepped into the elevator, hoping that maybe he might take some comfort in closeness with another human being. She could tell that his thoughts were grim, and whatever hope he had of Charlie and Amita still being alive was diminishing with every passing second.

"I'm sorry." She said, after they had let another agent out into the lobby. Don looked taken aback, and every so slightly confused.

"For what?"

"I'm just sorry."

"This wasn't your fault and I don't blame you. You have nothing more to be sorry for." He said, bluntly, and she could tell that he was still not pleased with her. Rationalising that she wouldn't be either if she was in his position, she let that be.

"Well tough because I am. And I'm gonna help you do anything to get them back." The expression on his face softened, as did his harsh demeanour.

"Thanks Betancourt. We'll talk more later, after this is all over." She knew that he meant their conversation in the kit room, and agreed. That could wait until Charlie and Amita came home safe and sound. "But you will be telling me everything because by the end of today, I'm not taking any of your shit." His tone was hard again, and ruthless. Nikki felt her shoulders sag, and everything hit her at once. She was glad that he was not looking at her, because this way he didn't see the solitary tear track it's way down her face. Charlie and Amita were missing. Larry was in the hospital. Edgerton was cutting them from the investigation. Sometime soon, she was going to have to go to the hospital, one just like the one she had seen her mother die in. Nikki swallowed hard.

"Yes boss."

* * *

The doctor in the medical suite was even more insistant that Nikki visit a hospital, and be under constant supervision. However, a couple of pain meds and a short nap later, she felt... well not as good as new, but one hell of a lot better than she had felt before. Liz appeared, just as she was trying, for the third consecutive time that hour, to convince her doctor that she was fine and all she needed was some coffee.

"Whoa, tiger, stay down." Liz said, pushing Nikki back down onto the sterile hospital bed. Nikki glared at her, partly because her push elicited a shooting pain which migrated not only to her head but also to every cubic millimeter of her body. "Have you remembered anything more or are you just eager to join the party?"

"I think that there may have been a fourth guy. To cuff all three of them, it only makes sense, and also to have the driver." Liz nodded.

"I'll tell Edgerton. He may not apprise us of everything, but I still want him to make this case. If just for Charlie and Amita."

"No..." She pulled herself off the bed, standing tall, two inches shorter than Liz, who looked baffled and alarmed.

"If we want to have a proper chance of finding Charlie and Amita-" Nikki shook her head, making her impressively fast progress to the elevator.

"That's not what I mean." The doors closed, Liz only just nipping inside before her colleague stabbed the little button for the fourth floor. "I mean that I'll do it myself." Liz looked wary.

"Now is not the time to prove yourself."

"Someone's been talking to Eppes." She muttered, darkly. "Come along if you like." Liz set her jaw, standing besider her coworker in the small elevator. A resident puppydog wouldn't have eased the tension felt in that elevator.

"You know, you should rest." The nasty look which Nikki shot the older agent was not missed, though it was ignored.

"I'm trying to help. What's your problem with that?"

"My problem is that you're trying to fix things that it's not your place to fix." Liz turned to the other woman, angry and disbelieving. "You're making as many problems as you're solving! You've managed to get yourself nearly killed, shot, and maimed within the last few days! You're reckless and your 'bravery' right now is only making Don feel worse because if you get youself hurt, he's going to blame himself for that as well. As if he doesn't have enough to worry about just now! Not only are you involved with Edgerton, I have no idea whether you love him or if you're angry with him. I need to know where your loyalties lie, Nikki!"

"My loyalties are the least of your worries. I am going to report everything back to Ian because I want to help with the investigation. That doesn't mean that I'm betraying you in any way, so stop acting so damn self-righteous. You want me to sit back while Charlie and Amita are out there, in the hands of killers when I might be able to do something? I know you're angry because Charlie and Amita are in danger, and because you feel like you should be protecting them when all you can do is sit back and watch Ian through a closed door. But that is no reason to take it out on one of the people who are trying to help them." Nikki rallied, fists balled by her sides and breathing heavily. She felt like screaming.

Liz watched the floor with an unmistakeable look of fright on her face. Of course she wasn't angry with Nikki. She was scared, for her friends. For Charlie. For Amita. For Don, Alan and Larry. Hell, this was affecting her more that any other case she had worked on, and she knew that it would destroy Don if something happened to Charlie. Especially when it may have been because of him. Taking a deep shaky breath, she shook her head at the floor.

"I know, I know." Nikki's breathing regained normal pace, and she moved closer to Liz, bending her arm slightly and grabbing her elbow.

"It's no one's fault, Liz. You couldn't have prepared them for this, and neither could I."

"Don would blame himself."

"Don already blames himself. It's just up to us that at the end of the day, he has nothing to blame himself for." Liz looked up at the new recruit, with a new sense of respect. She may be rash, reckless and addicted to the adrenaline high she got off kicking ass, but she certainly had her priorities right. "So stop feeling sorry for yourself, Liz, and help me find Charlie and Amita." A slight smile came onto the elder agent's face, as the elevator doors slid open.

"Aye aye Captain." She said, and Nikki smiled as they stepped out onto the floor.

"Now where the hell is Edgerton..." Nikki asked, with narrowed eyes, while Liz made a beeline for Colby and David, for a status report. She would let the new guy fight this battle. Fighting through a throng of bustling agents, Nikki spotted Ian in the situation room, bossing his agents around. He looked busy, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. Either they had lots of leads, and they were running them all up, or they had very few leads, and they were just clutching desperately at straws which were snapping at the lightest touch. Making a beeline for him, she shoved aside the agent at the door, ignoring his spectacular stumble into two other agents, creating an almost comical domino effect.

"Edgerton." She barked, surprising him. He looked up as she made her unforgettable entrance, still wearing her boss' sweater which was by now slighlty stained with blood. She'd buy him a new one. Edgerton hung up his phone, with a non-commital "I'll call you back". Rounding the desk swiftly with his mouth set in a straight line, he looked decidedly displeased. But Nikki was far too pissed off to care.

"Nik, you're meant to be in medical-"

"You're shutting Eppes out of the investigation?" She kept her tone calm, though she was sure that the depth of her anger showed through. She had always had problems with her anger management, so in a way, she was doing very well. Liz, Colby and David watched warily from the floor, hoping to God that she didn't end up doing anything that she might regret.

"His team is biased. I know Eppes, I've worked things out with him. You should go to the hospital."

"That doesn't mean that you can't give us real time updates. We can't do any damage." Edgerton took her none too gently by the shoulders and pushed her aside.

"Not on this one. I have orders, and I intend to follow them. We have the investigation under control, and as soon as we find anything, or recieve a ransom demand, Professor Eppes and Ramanujan's families will be informed. Plus, this is probably due to a security leak-"

"What?" Her voice raised an octave in complete and utter disbelief, shaking with anger and pain from her back. A security leak?

"How else would they know that Eppes and Rumanujan were going to be there at that specific time. It had to be an inside job-"

"People know that Charlie generally has drinks with his brother when the case is over. That usually involves meeting them. It's not a top secret operation, Ian. I know these people-" Edgerton snorted.

"The hell you do. You've been working with them for a grand total of two weeks." That stung Nikki, and she lashed out, as she always did when she felt threatened.

"You know them though!" Edgerton shrugged.

"I find it unlikely that anyone can ever really know another person." Ian Edgerton was one of the country's best snipers. Fourth in the America, in fact. He was an experienced tracker and an exceptional agent, and he had reflexes faster than a brand new sports car, but he still didn't see her fist coming.

As soon as it connected with his face, two agents immediately jumped from their posts and pulled Nikki back, brushing her back and making her yell out in agony. Ian was silent, holding his face in complete and utter shock.

"Nik-"

"I can't believe you could say that about these people." The office was silent, still running down their leads, but distracted by the scene before them. Liz and her boys watched on, mouths open in shock and horror. "These agents are good people, and I may not know them well enough to base a profile on them, but I know them well enough to know that they would never do anything to hurt Charlie or Amita. They're good people, but you're right about one thing," Nikki pulled her arm free from the agents holding her, mouth twisted into a grimace. Ian motioned to the guards, to let her go, and he seemed infuriatingly calm.

"What was I right about, Nik?"

"No one can ever really know another person." She said, lower this time. Ian was angry; he turned away, refusing to make eye contact, and began to log into the system on the laptop in front of him. Nikki shook her head and stormed away, hand stretched out because of the pain shooting through her joints. Edgerton was the least of her worries now, and a small pleasant smile lit up her face as she reached her colleagues congregated around Colby and David's work area. She had got what she had needed to from her encounter.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

* * *

Liz's mouth had formed a small 'o' shape, and Colby was looking pained.

"Do you realise what you just did?" She asked, disbelievingly. "You just... Christ Nikki, he'll show no mercy!" Nikki rolled her eyes, still smiling. Liz flapped her arms, exhasperated, and with the distinct feeling that Nikki knew something that she didn't. "Why are you smiling?"

"The agent on the far side of the situation room with the laptop is surveilling you, to check that you don't do anything stupid or try to involve yourself in the investigation. I don't know about you, but I know that I want to be a part of this, and I want to know if there is anything that we can help with." David nodded, slowly.

"Okay, but how? Like you said, we're being surveilled." Nikki picked up a laptop bag and handed it to Liz.

"Work out how Colby and David get out of sight, Liz, you're their main focus at the moment." She remembered back to the reflection of Liz's work details in the glass walls of the situation room, right before she had punched Edgerton. Liz mouthed, but Colby answered.

"Then what?"

"Log into the mainframe with badge number 10762." Liz's eyebrows came down, and contracted in confusion.

"Your badge number is 19231." Nikki gave her a 'no shit Sherlock' glance, and she cottoned on. "Oh."

"The passcode is beta-alpha-delta-1-8-6-4. Security in the lobby has an eye out for you, so maybe it's best to stay in the building. I don't think they've hacked into our phones, but I think it's best to be careful. Now I'm going to see Larry with Eppes, to get us off of Edgerton's radar. Then, when you call us with anything you find useful, or anything that you don't, we'll check it out. The dead leads are usually the ones which actually lead us somewhere. Anything important that crops up or that you recognise as something more than a dead lead, forward it to Edgerton and give yourselves up." All three agents were looking at her warily; they weren't comfortable with breaking the law like this.

"Why is all of this necessary?" Liz asked, and Nikki sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't know, but protocol says that Eppes should be in the loop, whether he's trying to interfere or not. Edgerton says that he had his orders, but God knows what that meant. I'm going to find out who he's reporting to, and why we're in this corner. Things aren't right, guys, and it's not just because it's an FBI consultant in that van. There's something more going on here." While normally, David and Colby would have told her that her imagination was getting the better of her, they almost agreed with her. Something just didn't lay right with this case. With the abduction, the secrecy and the surveillance. They nodded, and David called one last thing to Nikki as she walked towards the kitchen area, where the Eppes were.

"What happens if the kidnappers call when Don's with you at the hospital?" He asked, and the others gazed at her curiously, wondering how she was going to work this one out.

"There isn't going to be a call, or a ransom demand. If this was about money, they wouldn't have chosen Charlie and Amita, they would have just left Amita too. They left Larry for a reason, and that's going to lead us to the kidnappers." Liz nodded. That made complete sense. "And if I'm wrong," Nikki continued, "There's this magical invention called a phone." Liz rolled her eyes, and turned back to Colby and David as Nikki walked away.

"She's right, boys. We have to do something more than just sitting here." Colby nodded.

"I find it hard to believe that anyone high up in the chain of command is that against protocol. Maybe it's Edgerton who's off." Liz shrugged.

"Nikki strikes me as someone who has contacts. She'll find that out, while we handle the case."

"What if Edgerton finds out, or if he's already logged in? Also, where will we go if we can't leave the building?" A small line appeared between Liz's eyebrows, one which always appeared when she was thinking hard about something.

"He won't be logged in. During our ops, when everything gets this messy, is Don ever logged in? The Agent in Charge always looks to the agents under his command for tech support and resources. There's usually no reason for Edgerton to be logged in, except if he's authorising something, which I he has to do every half hour, like Don has to during an op. So every half hour, you have to log out for ten minutes while he does his thing. Then, the updates will continue to come to his system. " Liz sighed. The FBI mainframe had strange technical properties.

"I don't like the close comparison between Don and Edgerton." David growled, staring at Edgerton through the glass like he would very much like to shoot him. Which, although being a very bad idea, he would enjoy a lot at this moment in time.

"None of us like it, but that's just the way it is. I'll make a distraction, and you guys get to the sixth floor archive offices, no one's going to be there this time of day. Hide in the back and leave a note on the desk saying reroute to a different office just in case anyone comes along for something. Don't take laptops from here, they might see you and suspect. Archives has laptops you can use. Phone the switchboard and protest family emergency, so Edgerton might think you're in the field. It's worth a try, anyway." Colby grinned.

"You remind me of my drill seargent when you get all riled up like this." David kicked him.

"Shut up Granger and listen to the lady speak." Liz smiled faintly, amused, though too stressed to let the smile truly reach her eyes. She knew that this was the boys' way of dealing; bad humor and sniping. Hey, if it worked for them.

"Are we good?"

"Yes sir." Liz frowned.

"Did you just salute me?" Colby looked slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry. Force of habit." Grinning, she backed away, as David sat down at his desk, waiting for the cue, and Colby headed inconspicuously to the mens' room. He smiled as he noticed the agent Nikki had mentioned staring at him. He was so not as subtle as he thought he was.

Liz immediately made her way to her boss' workstation, hurriedly, with a not completely fake expression of apprehension plastered over her face. Being as obvious as possible. Having known Don for an unknown and probably depressing totale of years, she took three guesses to hack into his account. She knew that he alternated passwords, and she'd seen him type three in before, over the course of the two years they had been working together. Don's unpredictable phrasing was ironically his only predictability.

About ten seconds after she had logged in under his name, the head of the agent watching Colby talking to another agent near the mens' room door snapped over; she could see him out of the corner of her eye. He turned to his boss, and beckoned Edgerton over to look at the computer screen. Then they both waited, staring at Liz to see what she would do. David slipped behind a larger agent and into the elevator, with the subtlety of a spy, and Colby departed with a smile from the unsuspecting agent, and darted through the doors to the stairwell.

Trying to maximise suspicion, hence keep eyes from searching for David or Colby for the longest amount of time possible, she brought up a search engine and typed in the licence plate that Nikki had given her earlier that night... actually, earlier that morning. Within moments, she noticed Edgerton barking orders to the surveillance agent, who in turn, talked to security. He led the two armed guards towards Liz, hands protectively on their firearms.

Gritting her teeth and knowing that this was it, possibly the end of her career at the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, she hoped that David and Colby were safely on the sixth floor by now. Soon they would sent security to look for them, once they realised that she was buying time. The clipping footsteps stopped behind her and she closed her eyes, knowing that her part had been played. She only hoped, though it sounded arrogant and presumptuous, that the team could find Charlie and Amita without her. She gave a short prayer to a God that she didn't believe in, before reopening her eyes.

"Agent Warner, could you please come with us?"

* * *

Nikki entered the kitchen area just before Liz sat down at her desk, making sure not to seem implicated. Her and Don needed to get out of there, fast, before Edgerton caught on to the scheme.

"Hey, Eppes, we're going for a ride." She barked, sitting down across from him. Alan gave her a stunned look, and Don raised his head off the table in order to shoot her an incredulous look.

"For a ride?" He asked, and she nodded, calmly.

"You heard me. We need to talk to Larry. Get his version of events." Don shook his head.

"No way... why's Liz at my station?" Nikki grabbed his jaw and centred his vision on her.

"Don't go there, Eppes. Now you need to come with me, so we can figure out why Edgerton's acting like this." Don snorted.

"He's an ass, what more do you need?" Nikki shook her head.

"He's not an ass, he follows orders, sometimes obsessively. Trust me Eppes, I know him and I can tell when he is following orders. Plus, if he wasn't, he would have arrested me for assault." She countered. Don frowned, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Why, what did you do?" He asked, and she looked guilty. He'd clearly missed their altercation, and Alan didn't seem to have the mental capacity to speak. Nikki shot him a reassuring smile, just in case it helped a little. "I need to stay in case there's a ransom demand." Nikki shook her head.

"This isn't about money, you've worked enough cases to know that no one targets the FBI for money. Especially a consultant... if anything, they would take an agent with rank or a politician. This is personal." It hurt her to say it; that his baby brother had been handcuffed and gagged because of him, and that he could possibly be dead just because someone was holding a grudge for a DUI. His expression said it all, and she had to look away.

"You mean that Charlie and Amita could be dead just because of me? Of where I work?" Nikki shrugged.

"That or a case that one of you worked on." Alan was watching, with tears in his eyes. "But Edgerton would have sent more agents out on leads if he thought that was what was going on. It's probably not a case pertaining to Charlie at all. And they'd still be alive, otherwise their bodies would have been left at the scene." God, what was wrong with her? She was talking about this as if it was any other case, when it clearly wasn't. She knew that he wanted her to leave it alone; he only kept her in the building in case she remembered anything more, and he wanted her without pain medication dulling her memory. Why did she have to say the word 'bodies'? Alan looked a pale shade of green.

"So it's because of Don?" Alan cut in, and it was impossible to gauge his emotion. Every feeling in the world looked like it had been shoved into a giant blender and force fed to the retired city planner. His son looked equally unfathomable, though the blender had failed to turn his guilt into mush, so Nikki saw giant chunks of it.

"I can't say for sure, but we should go see Larry. Something is going on here, which should not be going on. Edgerton has had plenty of good leads by now, lots of angry ex-cons. Now either he's holding out on us, which I very much doubt, or he's waiting for an order. You have to admit it Eppes, you've worked with Ian plenty of times... he doesn't act like this. He's uncomfortable with the chain of command, and that's not just because it's new to him. He's a good agent, which means he wouldn't have missed anything which he wasn't instructed not to investigate." Don's brow was furrowed, as he tried to make sense of everything.

"So you're saying he's being coerced." He asked, finally.

"I'm saying he might be. If we go talk to Larry, I can make a few calls on the way. We can make this all right, and we might be able to get into the investigation, and I garuntee you, you will be able to help. This is about you, Don, I know it." Nikki stared at her boss, eyes wide and hopeful. If he didn't say yes to this, Liz's arrest will have been in vain. Even if they found something in Edgerton's files, chances are that he would be ordered against acting upon them. She could see her partner's unquenchable curiousity battling with his emotion, until finally he nodded, mouth set in a grim line.

"Okay. Let's go." Alan stood up with them, and grabbed Don's arm as he pulled on his jacket. "Dad, we have to do this." Nikki waited by the door, not wanting to intrude upon their private moment. "I have to find Charlie, and if this is at all my fault..." Alan nodded gravely, understanding completely. Nikki signalled that she would be in the kit room, down the hall, and he understood her hand movement immediately.

"I know, Donnie, I know. Just be careful..." His voice broke slightly but he cleared his throat, trying to hide how vulnerable he felt. "I can't lose the both of you; you're all I have left." Don pulled his father into a strong embrace, automatically placing his head on his chest below his chin. No man ever hugs his father like an equal. He's always going to be the one who is taller, stronger and more experienced. No matter the physical appearance.

Quickly, as if trying to moderate his feelings, Don backed away and followed Nikki out. She was in the middle of the painful process of putting clothes from her locker on in the kit room, when Don entered, walking up behind her and stopping short. She felt the warmth of his body and started, not having heard him come in. She made sure not to turn around, because of her state of undress, as she tried to pull on her t-shirt.

Gently, and quietly, he took the material by the hem and pulled it down her arms, from it's stuck position at her elbows. He knew that movement hurt her, so he pulled the material away from the skin of her back, making sure that it didn't even touch the gauze on her back. She shivered at the heat of his hands, and slowly brought her arms down, groaning at the protest that her body put out. He did not relinquish his grasp on the bottom of her shirt, instead leaning in and dropping his head to her shoulder, careful not to touch her back in the process. Reaching back and grasping his wrists, she realised that he was shaking; his massive shoulders trembling with fear, anger and helplessness.

Nikki swivelled on the spot, and touched his sides comfortingly. They were shaking too. His whole body convulsed with sadness. First pausing, to see if he put up any objection, she encircled his waist with her arms and he leaned against her, his face buried in her neck and his hands grasping at the material of her shirt, as if this may give him peace of mind.

"Eppes, we have to go. Edgerton won't let us out of the building if we wait too long... he already knows that Liz, Colby and David are up to something and right now I'm not exactly in his good books." Nikki whispered, softly in his ear, and he muttered something back. She held him tighter, loving how his lips moved against the skin of her neck, but then let go, pushing him back. He still did not look her in the eye, instead helping her pull on a loose, XL FBI jacket. The contact with her made him stronger; his show of weakness had somehow invigorated him, and he rubbed his face angrily.

"Let's go then." He didn't say anything more about the tenderness with which they touched, and neither of them really knew what to think about it. This was another thing to talk about later, when Charlie and Amita were okay. Until then, they were content with not knowing and just feeling.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: I must inform you in advance that I am a Brit thus I do not know much about the politics, the setup or the details of the FBI. If there are any inconsistancies which are blaringly obvious to more seasoned readers, do not hesitate to tell me. I will not take offense. That concerns grammar errors and general mistakes which I may have overlooked in my proof reading sessions. Also, thanks to those who reviewed to my previous chapters. Your feedback is very much appreciated. _

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* * *

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**Chapter Five**

As soon as Don and Nikki reached the elevator, a hand caught Don on the shoulder. He turned immediately, his reactions sharpened by the apprehension he was feeling, and came face to slightly bruised face with Ian Edgerton.

"What?" Don hissed, too angry about Edgerton's decision to cut him out of the investigation to look him in the face, instead turning back to wait for the sliding doors to open. Nikki ignored them both and pressed the down button again, thinking to avoid any conversations or - no doubt - disagreements which would arise if they stayed much longer.

"Where are you going, Eppes?"

"For a jelly donut." Nikki snapped, quietly, still pissed off by their earlier altercation. "Does it matter?"

"Yes." He moved closer, so less of their conversation was heard by all of the agents positioned nearby. "You don't like jelly donuts." The implications of their statements and body language hit Don like a ton of bricks, and he felt uncomfortable intruding upon such a moment.

"No one can ever really know another person." Nikki quoted, still very hostile.

"Shut up Nikki. Just listen to me."

"Why should-"

"Meet me in the stairwell in five minutes and I might let Warner out of holding, and ignore the breaches in protocols that Granger and Sinclair are performing." He shot her a less than friendly look. "Not to mention I won't hold charges against you." Nikki faced forwards, and another two agents came up behind him, ones which she recognised from executive levels. She briefly wondered what the PR guys were doing on their floor. Immediately upon realising that these agents were within earshot, Ian backed away and spoke more clearly. Louder, as if wanting everyone to hear him.

"You should hurry back, Eppes. There's no knowing when the kidnappers might call." He backed away, and Nikki had to give him credit. He was quite the actor.

The elevator doors opened and they got in, their aim no longer the lobby, but instead to two floors below, where they had a legitimate excuse of chasing up files on their most recent case, which in comparison, seemed like a walk in the park. As soon as the doors slid shut, Don and Nikki swiftly changed their course, and instead of following their presumed path into the bullpen, they veered over to the stairs and slipped through the door discreetly. Neither drew very much to any attention to themselves; a skill that they had both learnt from undercover operations.

Edgerton took two minutes to show, and he did so from the unlikely doors behind them. He had clearly had the same thoughts concerning security. Like always, he was seen but not remembered.

Nikki immediately rounded on him angrily, and he backed away slightly, wary upon remembering the way their earlier conversation had come to a close.

"Well? Explain yourself Ian!" She said, shrilly, though keeping her voice quite quiet as not to be heard by the agents on that floor. Edgerton shook his head, holding up his hands in defense, as if he was scared she was going to jump at him. Which was probably the best move to make under the circumstances.

"Listen, I know what this looks like, but I can explain, Nik." Don watched Edgerton with narrowed eyes, not as easily calmed as Nikki.

"Explain then." He barked, harshly.

"Look Nikki, all I know right now is that this is bigger than you or me, or even you, Don. I get the call that I'm taking the case, even though I was at the scene. They don't question me about if I think I'm too close to the case. They would never do this normally." Don's expression turned to confusion, and he moved forwards sharply.

"What do you mean? Who is 'they'?"

"'They' is AD Wright. He phoned me up personally and told me to keep you out of the case. I thought at first that you'd been trying to take control, which you actually were, but I don't think that's the reason anymore." Ian told them, still in hushed tones.

"And that reason is...?" Nikki asked, eyebrows raised, but Ian shook his head.

"I'm not entirely sure what the reason is yet, but he didn't sound like he was giving the orders here. There's something going on with him, and I'm in no position to find out if you want me to find Professor Eppes." Nikki watched him carefully, and Don suspiciously.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" He asked, unforgivingly. Ian looked at the ground, then back up, but not at him. He looked at Nikki.

"What you said earlier. You were right. That's why I gave you my passcode." He raised an eyebrow at Nikki's surprised and ashamed expression. "What, you think I didn't know when you were lying?" She watched him coldly.

"I wasn't lying. I'm better at faking it than you know." She said, curtly, and he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever Nikki. But remember, you do not talk to me if any of my agents are nearby. The team was specially requested by AD Wright and they have a reputation of being asskissers. Any excuse and they'll sell me out." He sounded pissed off at her reply. "Before you ask, I don't think that there's going to be a ransom demand. These people are professionals. They would have called by now." Ian added, as an afterthought.

"Edgerton, just-"

"If I give you any more information about your brother's case right now, Eppes, you will try to interfere. I'm not stupid and I'm not naive. You will no doubt complicate matters, and perhaps even be detained. Your best chance to get Charlie back now is to check out Wright. He has tabs on my account so I can't specifically investigate him. Tell Granger and Sinclair that, then tell them to get off my account or I will detain them."

"I thought you were trying to help us."

"I'll need a little trust on your part." Nikki and Don watched him stony-faced. "Nikki, just please trust me. I've never lied to you." Ian said, staring straight at her so that she had to look away. He was right: she could not remember a single time when he had lied to her. It really pissed her off when he was right.

"Fine, but first minute that we think that you're not being honest with us, the rules change completely."

"Stop with the threats, Nik. They're not becoming of you." She shot him a glare. "But I do agree. Now clear off and log in under badge number 18723, passcode LADM2 from a remote location; I set you up an empty account with executive level security and level six access." Don looked impressed. He was head of Violent Crimes Unit and he only had level three. "I'll tell the surveillance team that security called and you went home." He backed away, and peeked cautiously through the door, while Don started away down the stairs. Nikki hovered in the middle, battling with her emotions. Finally, the guilty side won.

"Ian!" He pulled back just as he was about to go through the door, and looked at her curiously, though Don thought that he saw a little bit of hope in there too. Nikki's partner headed down the stairs, ignoring the strange pangs he felt by leaving them alone. He didn't know if he was worried about what he may do or what she might say.

"What, Nik?" Nikki moved forwards, and caught him in a loose embrace. Immediately, Ian stiffened, but relaxed within moments, burying his face in her hair.

"I'm sorry I doubted you. It's just..." She couldn't find the words to explain herself, though she felt that she should.

"It's okay, Nik. You had no reason to trust me, not when I was acting the way I was." She pulled back and kissed him, although it lacked the emotion which he expected. Something was still wrong between them, and it was nothing to do with their trust issues. "I'll see you later though. Good luck." Nikki stared at him for a moment, very close up, then gave him one last kiss.

"You too. You'd better find Charlie." She wasn't sure if that was a threat or a request. Either way, he was going to face consequences if he didn't.

"I will. Go now, Eppes isn't a patient man." He said, playfully, and Nikki chuckled.

"Damn right he's not." She turned on her heel and trotted away down the stairs, towards where Don was waiting for her.

Ian watched her go, waiting until the sound of her footsteps had faded away before he let the soft smile on his face fade. Mouth set in a grim line, he strode through the double doors from the stairwell again, heading back towards the elevator. He didn't care if he was seen now.

Agent Edgerton rode the elevator to the eighth floor, to the executive levels, and never once did his expression change. Once there, he knocked purposefully on the door of the Assistant Director's office.

"Come in." Came the calm, deep reply. Edgerton did, his expression still the same. He did not sit, even though the man behind the desk motioned to a chair. He wasn't staying long. "Have you done what I asked, Agent Edgerton?" Ian swallowed, feeling the slightest itch of unease at the man's cold composure.

"Yes Assistant Director Easton. Everything that you asked." The Assistant Director leant back in his chair, watching his agent with an air of cool authority.

"And is Agent Betancourt going to be a problem?" Ian shook his head, though he felt ashamed to do so. He felt sick.

"No Sir, she believed me."

"Are you certain?" He asked, sternly. "I don't want a fuck up because you can't keep your feelings to yourself."

"Yes." Ian nodded, making a clear effort to look more stern and composed. "Yes I am sure. Is Eppes okay?" AD Easton nodded.

"He will be returned to his family, as will Professor Rumanujan, when I feel that the time is right."

"They're already looking into Assistant Director Wright-"

"That will be all, Agent Edgerton." The completely unconcerned look which hardened Easton's face told Ian that it was time to stop arguing. He nodded, feeling the bile rise in this throat. This was fucked up.

"Yes Sir." He moved swiftly out of the office and moved down a floor, the Assistant Director's words still ringing in his ears. There was nothing logical or in control about this situation. Following orders was a new concept for Ian, and he was finding it pretty damn hard.

He made sure that there was no one in the mens' room before being copiously sick into the toilet.


	6. Chapter 6

_I'm not updating all that often, I know. My mom has me doing revision... damn her. I hate physex. _

* * *

**Chapter Six **

Nikki caught up with Don at the front doors, but he refused to look at her.

"Is it done?" He asked, curtly, and she nodded, feeling ashamed.

"I still don't see why we can't-"

"Yeah, and that's why I'm heading a department and you're not." He interrupted sharply, not caring that he was being unnecessarily harsh. Nikki shut up after that, but didn't hesitate to throw a nasty glance or two his way.

They drove to Don's apartment before speaking another word; the silence between them solid and impenetrable.

Nikki looked around herself, intrigued, as Don opened his door not bothering to hold it back for her, and threw his keys in the dish on the small wooden table near the door. So this was where he lived. It was small, and open plan, and a lot neater than she would have imagined. The only evidence that anyone lived there at all was the jeans hanging over the side of the brown leather couch and the slightly rumpled sheets on the bed.

She wondered briefly how he got from his sheets to his jeans in the morning, and was momentarily distracted by the image of her naked boss wandering across his apartment. Don jolted her from this image, too tired, confused and pissed off to care what she was day dreaming about. If only he knew...

"You can set up on the table." He picked up the jeans and wandered through to his bedroom, expression showing plainly that he had given up. On Ian, on Charlie, on everything. Nikki had only been working with him for a week or so, but she knew him well enough to know that he was uncharacteristically blue. And Don Eppes wasn't one to dance around with puppydogs and balloons.

"Sure." She answered, though she wasn't sure if he could hear her through the wall. Taking her shoulder bag off, she set it down on the table and extracted the laptop which she was carrying in it. "I still don't see why this is necessary."

"Shut up Betancourt and connect the damn thing up." Came the muffled reply, and she heard the faint sounds of his body moving around his room. She did as he said, her anger fluxuating; she couldn't decide if she was angry, sad or confused. Bouncing back and to between her emotions, she shivered his sudden presence behind her, the breeze of warmth from his body on her back not helping her indecisiveness. Glancing over her shoulder, she realized that he had changed his clothes, having worn the other ones for longer than was really sanitary. "Hurry up."

"Sure, boss, just give me a minute. I'm not -" She was going to say 'Charlie', but stopped herself just in time. "Really good with technology." He noticed her slip up, but did not show it. The fact that she went to the lengths of stopping herself was worth enough not to confront her about it.

The laptop beeped, alarmingly, and then its scripts ran across the screen. Concentrating hard, the tip of her tongue sticking out, Nikki typed into the command prompt, until the machine beeped again. Leaning back, looking relieved, she nodded towards the screen. Another window popped up, showing a media file. Don reached past his partner and pressed play, and both of them waited tersely.

_"It's okay, Nik. You had no reason to trust me, not when I was acting the way I was."_ Edgerton's voice blared from the speakers, and Nikki adjusted the volume levels, but not before more rustling was heard, and the audible sound of a kiss. Don looked away, almost embarrassed. His partner didn't share his embarrassment. She looked disgusted. _"I'll see you later though. Good luck." Both_ partners heard the sound of Ian pulling away from Nikki.

_"You too. You'd better find Charlie." _

_"I will. Go now, Eppes isn't a patient man." _

_"Damn right he's not."_ The sound of Nikki's footsteps were heard, padding away, and becoming fainter. Only Edgerton's breathing was heard through the speakers.

"He watched you go before leaving. That's suspicious." Don said, breaking the silence. Nikki ignored him. She didn't want to believe that Ian had any malicious intent, even if it was so simple as she didn't want to believe that he had fooled her into believing that he was on their side. Don would either be right or be wrong. Her feelings in either instance would tear her apart.

More rustling, then footsteps. Still breathing. Through the busy office, and into the busy elevator. Someone's phone rang. Edgerton's breathing pattern did not change. Nikki leant back in her chair, curling her feet up onto it, seeking warmth. Her back was hurting again. The elevator dinged and more footsteps. Nothing. This wasn't Edgerton's stop. Closing her eyes, as if this may shelter her from her messed up emotions, Nikki hugged her knees and Don came subconsciously closer. He was staring at the screen hopefully. He would find out what was going on, even at the expense of being arrested for bugging the Agent in charge of Charlie's case.

The elevator made two more stops, putting Edgerton on one of the higher levels. Six or seven, at least. If not Executive.

"Is he going after David and Colby?" Don asked, rhetorically. Nikki didn't answer, as she usually did to his rhetorical questions.

Edgerton knocked on someone's door.

_"Come in"_ was barely audible. Don reached over and adjusted the sound settings again, realizing that Nikki wasn't going to move from hugging her knees, eyes squeezed shut. _"Have you done what I asked, Agent Edgerton?"_ The same voice. Then Ian's.

_"Yes Assistant Director Easton. Everything that you asked."_ Don glanced down at his partner, noting the glazed look in her now open eyes, and rationalizing that he probably didn't look that different right now.

_"And is Agent Betancourt going to be a problem?"_ Don considered placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, but rightly assumed that it was not welcome.

_"No Sir, she believed me."_ Nikki choked a little, strangling on too much oxygen.

_"Are you certain? I don't want a fuck up because you can't keep your feelings to yourself." _

_"Yes."_ There was a pause. _"Yes I am sure. Is Eppes okay?"_ A look of confusion passed across both agents' eyes, thinking that they meant Don. The fuzzy static of the bug whispered tauntingly between raspy words.

_"He will be returned to his family, as will Professor Rumanujan, when I feel that the time is right."_ Immediately, there was no reaction. Then, after a two second delay, Don grabbed the nearby chair and threw himself down in it, his legs giving way. Nikki was thankful that she was already sitting down.

_"They're already looking into Assistant Director Wright-" _

_"That will be all, Agent Edgerton."_ Nikki squeezed shut her eyes again, wishing and hoping with everything that she had that Ian would disagree. That he was undercover and this was his big break. That this was all just a big fucked up misunderstanding.

"_Yes Sir."_

Apparently not.

* * *

Once Nikki stopped throwing up Don brought her coffee. It was cold but she drank it anyway, and was sick again. Eventually, when all the contents of her stomach - meager as they were - had been expelled, she sat with him at his kitchen table. The laptop was on mute, but the program was still running. The little green lines fluxuated sharply, and the manuscript wrote itself underneath. Neither agent read it. There would be time for that later. Now they had to make sense of the situation they found themselves in.

"I can't believe that..." Don trailed away, unsure of what he couldn't believe. That Ian was a dirty agent. That Assistant Director Easton was a dirty agent. That his boss had kidnapped his brother. All of these things, they were just the highlights. Nothing was making sense to him anymore. It was all just a giant knot of backstabbing and betrayal. Two of the two things he hated the most.

"Yeah, me neither." Nikki could. That was the ultimately destroying aspect. She could believe that this was happening. In some twisted sense, she knew it had been coming and when Don had asked her to bug her lover; she had only done it because she knew that there was something that he wasn't telling them. She just didn't know that it would be this bad. "Have you looked at Wright?" Don looked surprised, and then motioned at the computer indignantly.

"Did you not hear that? It was Easton. He wants Wright gone for some reason." He cried, louder than really necessary. The anger was beginning to surface, the situation playing through the first of his violent and unstable emotions. Nikki scoffed.

"Maybe, but if we look at Wright, we might find out why Easton wants Wright out of the picture. Plus, we can get David and Colby to trace the information that Edgerton's planted." She sassed her voice hard as nails again. She was almost hungry again, but knew that if she ate anything, she would throw up. Cleverly, she ignored the rapidly cooling coffee in front of her. Don nodded, slowly.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"I wouldn't have said it if it didn't."

"Shut up Betancourt." He hissed, shoulders squared and muscles tensed. "Do your job." Growling and muttering rudely under her breath, Nikki pulled the laptop closer and glanced over the script.

"At least we know that Charlie and Amita aren't in danger anymore." Don shot her an incredulous glare.

"And how do you figure that?" He asked, voice still raised. "We still don't know where they are!"

"Easton's not stupid enough to kill them until we've 'arrested' AD Wright. Then, we would look too far into what we were doing. Which means that there's a good chance that he's planning to do more than arresting Wright." Nikki mumbled, musing to herself as much as she was talking to Don. She was making an odd kind of sense, he decided.

"He's planning a hit on Wright." Nikki nodded, grimly.

"If Wright looks dirty, no one will ask questions. They'll assume that it's one of his associates."

"Which he's probably going to frame for something else." He finished, surprised at the outlandish nature of their claims, while simultaneously suspicious at how perfectly they fitted. "But who?" Nikki shrugged.

"I ain't your eightball, baby. I'll search through Wright's life on the login account that Ian gave us - he's probably watching it. You call Colby; tell him to do the same. He'll be under surveillance too. Get David to go back into the office and apprised Liz of the situation Ian's constructed. Then, after she's left the building and been checked for bugs by security, tell them to come to us." She ordered, still staring at the laptop as she typed. Don raised one eyebrow.

"Yes boss." He said sarcastically.

"Deal with it." He rolled his eyes, and pulled out his phone, striding through to the bedroom to make his calls. The only reason that he wasn't angry was that he was busy. He was no longer concerned about Charlie and Amita's safety, for the time being. Ian would eventually lead them to the kidnapped mathematicians, maybe if with a little help from Larry and some of his CalSci students. Don knew that this was irrational. That he should be more worried. But now he was on the job. He was investigating a corrupt agent trying to instigate another agent to be corrupt, under the order of another more powerful corrupt agent. Shit. When this was all over, it would be a killer to explain in the paperwork.

* * *

"Agent Warner, I don't think I have to reiterate the seriousness of the situation which you now find yourself in." The thin, tall agent told her, in his nasal and frankly quite annoying tones. "You broke protocol, compromised the security of an investigation, and had intent to obstruct that investigation if we hadn't picked you up on it." Liz watched him coolly, having been on that end of the interrogation before. It was going to take a little more than some bureaucratic one-liner to scare her.

"You have no grounds in saying that I had intent to obstruct the investigation."

"But you do not deny that you compromised the security of the investigation and broke protocol."

"You broke protocol by watching me, and not letting Agent Eppes into the information of his brother's case." The man was clearly becoming angry now; at how little his best techniques were affecting her.

"And what if you had all of this information on Professor Eppes' case? What would you do with it?" Liz was silent. "You would have gone to check out the person who owns that license plate and compromised our investigation further."

"You have no proof of that." She said, quieter this time. She hated lying to the good guys. If that indeed was what they were.

"But I'm right, aren't I?" The man leaned forwards, and she noticed with a fair dose of disgust, the beads of sweat on his temple and the yellowy tinge to the whites of his eyes. He leered."You have a promising career, Agent Warner, which you only just pulled from the wreckage of your relationship with Agent Eppes. It is clear here that you are biased-"

"I'm not biased because I'm in love with my boss; I'm biased because those are my friends out there! Charlie and Amita, they are my friends. And since you don't seem to be doing much to get them back-"

"Are you insinuating that we are not working to our full potential to find Professors Eppes and Rumanujan?" The interrogator asked triumphantly, as if this was a great moment for him. It probably was, Liz thought, sourly. He probably loved squeezing useless confessions out of innocent people then grating down their souls. She wondered how long it would take the other agents outside the door to respond if she shot him.

"Fuck this." She muttered, pushing back her chair and pacing around the room, hands fisted in frustration. She hated Level Four clearance. "You're twisting my words."

"Are you insinuating-"

"I'm not insinuating bloody anything, I'm telling it how it is!" Liz shouted, shrilly. The smug smile on the man's face was so infuriating that she was compelled to look away. Otherwise she could say hello to a nice cozy cell at Pelican Bay Detention Centre. "Jesus."

Thankfully, (for the interrogator) someone chose to interrupt at this exact moment. Unfortunately (for Liz) this someone was Ian Edgerton. She rounded on him immediately.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, keeping me in here?" She asked; her voice still loud and shrill. A guard outside the door rubbed his ear painfully. Ian looked calm, despite the fact that he had just emptied the contents of his stomach a few minutes earlier, and was shaking like a leaf in the strong October wind. Still reeling from his actions.

"I have no grounds. Agent Prihoda: thank you for conducting this interview." He spoke fast, but calmly, and didn't break eye contact with Liz once. Agent Prihoda looked put off that he didn't get more credit, or a confession of the Kennedy Assassination, but accepted a 'thank you' instead. He walked away sourly, catching the cue for his departure.

As soon as he was gone, Ian motioned Liz to sit back down. When she didn't, he sighed and did, taking Prihoda's now empty seat.

"I think that you'd better sit down, Agent." Liz stared at him coldly, making clear that she had no intention of doing so. Ian banged his fist on the table, making clear that he meant business. The defiance in the female agent's eyes flickered. "Sit, Warner." She did so, reluctantly, but quickly.

"What do you mean by keeping me in here? You know my motives. You know what I was trying to do. So either charge me or let me go. There's no middle ground, as far as I'm concerned." She put forwards boldly, upon realizing that he was not going to say anything. There was something about his demeanor that she trusted, though at the same time something that she distrusted. Knowing that her emotions were a mess right now, she ignored all instinct and stuck to the blunt facts. She supposed they would get her where she needed to be in the end.

"I'm letting you go-" She stood up suddenly. "_But_," His voice was so authoritative that she sat back down again. "But first you need to listen to what I have to say."

"I've already had the 'share with the other kids' talk."

"That's good. Now we move onto the 'listening to your elders' talk." He shot back sarcastically, and she glared. "Now, as soon as you are released, I would like you to go talk to Don. He will tell you everything." Edgerton reached into his pocket and brought out a wad of papers. "You need to give him these." Liz picked them up.

"These are encrypted."

"Tell them that it's part of the transactions that prove Wright's guilt. From the archives; he can't reach them from there." Liz's brow knotted, her anger replaced by intrigue.

"Wright as in AD Wright?" She asked, appalled. "What's he guilty of?" Ian made a show of looking around himself, checking that no one was watching him, and shushed her.

"Shh. Don and Nikki will explain everything." He passed her phone, gun and other personal effects they had confiscated off of her over the metal table. "Just hurry up. We may not have much time." Unsure of her mission, her situation and herself, Liz raised herself off of the chair and backed away, pocketing all the items which he had given her.

"Edgerton?" He looked up from where he was staring at the desk. "Maybe I was wrong about you. I'm sorry." Her voice was curt, and he didn't blame her, but the apology made him feel sick again. It wasn't false, and that was enough to make an honest man guilty. And even though he was far from being an honest man, that empty feeling on the left side of his chest was still there, and more powerful than it had ever been.

* * *

_Review for more chapters... I always wait until I have at least one review before submitting. I know one is a small number, but it's something at least. You can make it more if you all review. _


	7. Chapter 7

_This one's a bit drama central, but the next one will be more plot centric. So now, the moment that (I hope) you've all been waiting for... the answer to Don's question in Chapter One..._**

* * *

**********

Chapter Seven

When David and Liz reached Don's apartment, their faces were set as stone. Her phone was back at her apartment, along with all of her effects which Edgerton had been in contact with. After the long and cautious process of having to rid Liz of all objects which could potentially be bugged then having to explain why, David headed straight to the caffeine in Don's cupboard. Liz took a step further and went for the whiskey.

"Yo, Liz, keep it straight. We might have to be moving out sometime soon." Nikki said, not even looking up as her colleague knocked one back and made a face.

"Baby, this is sharpening me up, not dulling me down." Liz snapped, and threw herself down in the empty chair next to Nikki. "Any leads on Wright?"

"Somethin' that might be nothin'." Nikki slurred, exhausted. "A case which Wright signed off on, closed files." Looking up to check if Don was in the room, and seeming relieved that he wasn't. "The irony is that I need Charlie and Amita to hack into it." David leaned over her chair, to look at the computer screen, eyebrows close together.

"I don't want to excite you, but I think I have an idea." He said, slowly. "Which does involve a small road trip."

"I'll grab my coat." Nikki's voice didn't have the same sassy spin on it as it usually did, and her movements were slow and sluggish. David and Liz traded doubtful glances and eyed the bloodstain on the back of her shirt. It was faint and smudged, like a brown dye watermark on the dark surface.

"Are you sure that you don't want to..." David was unsure of what really to say, so Liz spoke for him.

"Go get Don. Ask him for a change of clothes and meet us in the car." She ordered, though her tone was not authorative. Nikki did a wonderful impression of a goldfish for a split second, before nodding, almost embarrassed, and waiting until they had walked away before sidling into Don's bedroom, where he was fighting with someone on the phone. Once the stream of harsh profanity had halted, he snapped the phone shut and stared at her expectantly.

"What, Betancourt."

"Uh..." How would she put this?

"I don't have time for you." He stowed away his phone in his back pocket, and tried to push past them. "Where did the others go and does Colby have any progress?"

"They're waiting in the car, we're going for a road trip. Colby hasn't checked in yet, but I'm expecting a call soon." Wordlessly, Nikki turned her back on him, revealing the bloodstain on the back of her shirt. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed the surprised look on his face convert to sympathy, and he looked away.

Still silent, he walked over to his closet and rummaged around for a moment, before pulling out a blue button up shirt and holding it out to her. Limply and without the usual Betancourt defiance, she held out her hand and took it, suddenly unable to make eye contact.

"Thanks." She said awkwardly, and he stared at her for another moment before realising that he had to leave before she undressed. She didn't turn around, though she heard his footsteps halt at the doorway. Felt his eyes on her back. Made her shiver. Shudder. Her boss watched her as she pulled her shirt over her head, whining softly in pain. Nikki could feel his gaze waver as he saw the wound across her back, then grow more intense as she pulled his shirt around her.

"Nikki, we have a minute." The voice said, deep and calm from the doorway.

"For what?" She asked, confused.

"To talk." Turning around, still buttoning up the top buttons of the shirt, she stared at him expectantly. When she noticed the soberness of his expression, realisation dawned.

"It's no conversation. There's nothing to talk about." She knew that he wanted to know about her curse. But she couldn't tell him and she didn't know how to make him understand that. "The others are waiting."

"There's no way in hell that I'm letting you out that door unless you give me a really good explanation." He was blocking the door; there was no way that Nikki could pass without his consent. "Tell me what you meant."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nikki bluffed. "When?" It was a long shot that a simple question would throw him off his line, but she asked it all the same. Just in case.

It didn't.

"You know exactly what I mean." Pushing himself back off the doorframe, he strode closer, moving very fast. "You said to me, three days ago, that you thought you had nothing to lose. That you thought you only have a few years left anyway. And I wanna know what you meant!" He came up close to her, nose to nose and pupil to pupil. So close.

"I... I didn't mean anything." Nikki lied, too tired to even hide it anymore. "Why can't you just let it go?"

"Why can't I let it go?" Don was astounded. "Did you seriously just ask me that?"

"Yes, I did." She sassed back. "You don't care about me. If it starts affecting the way that I do my job, then I'll resign. It's none of your damn business-" Her voice was rising now, echoing in the otherwise empty apartment. Don's brown eyes narrowed.

"If it starts affecting your job? You mean that it's progressive?" He snapped, launching onto her words. "Tell me what it is." His tone was forceful now. Almost intimidating. Nikki pulled at the front of her shirt, refusing to look at him, and staring at the ground like a moody child.

"It's none of your business." She repeated, though this time she sounded almost sad. Small and scared, like a mouse in a warehouse, far away from any walls, doors, windows, any means of escape. Trapped in too much space. "Keep off, Eppes." His hands came out to steady her, holding her shoulders, and good thing too, because she was just about to collapse.

"Nikki, you have to tell me. I need to know." He cocked his head to look into her downturned face, her hair brushing his forehead. "You want to tell me." His thumbs dug into the flesh just above her breasts, firmly but not painfully. The warmth of his face soaked through the air into her, and she felt an oddly comforting sensation as his the skin of his cheek touched her temple. His breath on her ear made her lean in, sagging against his form. Small hot hands pressed flat against his stomach.

"I don't want to tell you." For a moment again, she sounded like a child. Asking her father over and over again, why her mommy had to leave her. "I want to just go to the car and get into the car and I want to leave. Now." Her voice was shaking; her breathing was erratic. Not only was her voice shaking, her body was convulsing like electric shocks were being charged through her muscles.

"Shh..." It was not as much a shushing noise as a rumble, echoing deep in his chest cavity. "Nikki just talk. Don't think about your words. Just open your mouth, and speak."

"I don't-"

"Speak or I can't allow you to keep up with this investigation." Sharply, almost without warning, Don's tone changed from soft to sharp, and his hands tightened on her shoulders. Nikki felt the first pangs of fear, stabbing low down in her stomach.

"Let go of me." She hissed, trying to front bravery but still shaking uncontrollably. "Let go-"

"No."

"Eppes-"

"No. Talk to me, Nikki. Talk to me."

"I'm not a suspect, Eppes, you can't talk to me like this!" She shouted, shrilly. "I am your partner." He shook her body roughly, by the shoulders, pulling her once more close to him. Frustrated.

"Yes, and that is exactly why you need to talk to me!" He hissed, angrily. "Tell me Nikki, this is the last time that I'm going to ask." There was a dangerous edge on his voice, which made Nikki anxious. In her few weeks working with him, she had never been the reciever of his anger. Before, she never realised how scary it would be in the suspect's seat.

"I..." He steered her to his bed, where he set her down onto the white sheets. He sat next to her. "I found out a few days ago. Now almost a week, but because of the case..." She cleared her throat, her voice strengthening. "I didn't really notice the time go by."

"How do you know that you only have a few years?" Don asked softly, as if scared that if he spoke too loud, she would close up again. "What makes you so sure?"

"It was my mom. I was only twelve when she left, and even though my dad never really spoke about it, I thought that she had left for another guy. He wasn't even my dad, though, he was my step-dad. I don't even know my real dad-"

"Nikki, you're rambling." He cut in, keeping his shoulder up against his, so she could feel his body heat, and be comforted by his presence.

"Right." She smiled, and wiped her cheek, sniffing slightly. "Well he told me... what really happened to my mom. She was hospitalised, roundabouts February '95." Nikki took a deep breath. "Huntington's disease." He pulled away immediately, eyes wide at her concession.

"Huntington's disease?" He asked, even though he didn't need verification. "Nikki..." To tell the honest truth, Don didn't know what to say. And Don always knew what to say.

"Symptoms haven't shown, but it's only a matter of time. Twenty-five to Thirty are the most common ages for them to start." Nikki sighed, shivering as Don pulled away from her slightly, leaving her shoulder exposed to the cold. It was thirty-five degrees outside and try as she might, Nikki could not regulate her temperature. "I'm twenty-seven. Close to twenty-eight. It's a surprise that they haven't..." Nikki cleared her throat again, awkwardly. "Yeah."

"Maybe you don't have it." Don offered, hopefully. "Have you had a definitive test done? Which means that you most certainly-"

"I only found out a few days ago!" Nikki insisted, almost angrily. "You don't expect me to-"

"Shh. Sorry, no. Of course I don't." He assured her, holding up his hands in an attempt to calm her. "I'm sorry." Gazing into her downturned face, his voice became stronger. It was verging on his boss tone, and Nikki wasn't sure if she found this discouraging or comforting. "But you should take a test, quite soon." His partner's eyes were still on the ground.

"I know. And I will. But right now, we need to concentrate on getting Charlie and Amita back safely. And that means chasing David down on his idea." Nikki smoothly changed the subject, and Don was so shocked at the information that his partner had just divulged that he let it change without objection. He stood, and walked over to the door, holding it open to her.

Nikki grabbed the laptop on the way out.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Chapter Eight_**

David and Liz were waiting in the car, with the engine already running, when Don and Nikki exited his apartment building. Still not knowing where they were going or what they were doing, they silently sat in their seats and watched the outside world begin to move, thoughts moving slower and faster then swirling around until finally, three out of four agents had their heads in their hands.

Don was thinking about Nikki's illness, thinking about how shocked he was when she had told him, thinking about her future, and similarly, their future. Nikki was thinking something along the same lines, while Liz was just thinking. About Charlie. About Amita. About how Mulder and Scully conspiracy theory the whole situation was becoming.

David's crown vic took three minutes to park, but they speedwalked into CalSci, laptops under arms.

"So this is your bright idea?" Don asked his second-in-command, one eyebrow raised. "Go to CalSci? Who exactly is going to help us, smart stuff?" Don's voice was beginning to gain volume. "How is this going to help us in the slightest, David?" Without even looking at either of them, Nikki shouldered Don out of the way and strode through the doorway slightly to his left, not far from the turnoff to Charlie's office.

"Listen up everyone, and you, yes you, beardy, get outta here." The agents heard her voice, and her footsteps as she descended the stairs in the lecturing theatre. Trading looks, they all rushed to follow her.

The theatre was full of students, all watching Nikki take control of the room with bemused and surprised expressions. The man which Don assumed was the 'Beardy' that his partner was referring to - who had an enormous white beard - gathered up his papers and walked away rapidly, checking over his shoulder, clearly apprehensive about Nikki's up-front approach. The tough beat ex-cop stood up in front of the twenty-odd students in the hall, and placed her hands on her hips. Screw junior agent, she looked like the boss.

"Yo listen up, math people." She called, and her curt LA clip filled the spacious room. Most of the students looked none too pleased at her chosen name for them. "Professor Ramanujan was supposed to take your class this morning, and you don't know where she is, do you?" The students didn't know what to say at first. Some of them refused to talk, though they shot their neighbours alarmed glances.

"No, we don't." One of the braver students offered, looking shocked at her own admission. "She didn't come in this morning." She added, eyebrows knotted.

"We don't know where she is at all." The skinny man beside her added, eyes wide with emotion and by design. Nikki took a deep breath and locked eyes with David for a second. She understood why he had brought them here.

"Well honestly, neither do we." This turned and shook heads, while some of the students scattered near the back leaned forwards, as if dismissing what they had just heard as a trick of the mind. "Professors Ramanujan and Eppes are teachers of yours. If this is not true, I must ask you to leave the room." None of the students left the room. "If you can't hack into the NSA mainframe just for kicks, leave now." Nikki waited slightly longer to let the students decide, and six students got up and left, uncomfortable with the seriousness of her words. Don and David parted at the doorway to let them through, watching them carefully as they left. "Now, those of you who are uncomfortable with signing an official looking form saying that what you hear in this room doesn't leave this room, leave now." Another ten left, not comfortable with the closed nature of whatever it was she was about to propose to them.

Don leaned over to David.

"Is this what I think it is?" He asked, unsure what to think of Nikki's words, or David's idea. "And if it is, we can't trust these people with what we need them to do."

"Don-" They moved aside, lowering their voices as those ten made their way out of the door, shouldering bags and throwing suspicious and curious backward glances at Nikki, who was still standing in front of the whiteboard, which still bore the marks of yesterday's Charlie Eppes lecture of game theory applicable to whatever the hell he wanted it to be applicable to. The agents moved together again, still speaking in low tones, lest they were heard by the remaining four students.

"I'm not going to get us arrested because some college undergrads can't keep their mouths shut!" Don hissed, and David looked at the floor.

"Listen, all due respect Don, but we don't exactly have that much of a choice right now." He made his way down the stairs, to where Nikki was sizing up the students. Making a judgement call on whether she should trust them or not. But like David said, they didn't have a lot of choice right now.

"Right, listen up. I don't care who you are, I don't care where you come from, and I don't give a crap about what you like and what you don't like. All I care about right now is your intelligence, and what you can do with it." The four students stared at her, apprehensively.

"What exactly do you want us to do, and..." The girl who had spoken up first looked at her fellow students then back at Nikki. "_Who _exactly are you?" David joined the junior agent by the whiteboard.

"We're friends of your professors. We're agents at the FBI. We're one hell of a lot of things, and I know that it's hard, but right now we need you to trust us, and help us get your professors home safely." Nikki said, her voice softer than it was before. "Now we're going to ask you to do something in a minute, which you might find beyond your capability or your comfort zone. But as long as you swear to God that you're loyal to Charlie and Amita, then you have nothing to worry about. We have your backs." The students watched her, looking frightened. They were just kids, after all. Kids which hadn't seen what had ultimately made the agents grow up. "So are you in?"

The girl stood up, and for a moment, Nikki thought that she was going to leave, but instead, she took her laptop out of her bag, mouth set in a grim line across her face.

"What do you need us to do, Agent?"

* * *

They set up in Charlie's empty but otherwise familiar office, with a laptop for each of the undergrads and one for every two of the agents. Each and every one of the students seemed to find it easy enough to hack into the FBI mainframe. Don reminded himself to talk to someone about that once this was all over. While the four undergrads worked, Abdul Hassim, a middle eastern student with a Southern accent, explained to Don exactly what would go down.

"I've created a trap door to the area of the mainframe where the files which you have requested." He said, keeping his eyes on the screen of his laptop. Don raised his eyebrows, surprised, though not unpleasantly.

"Already? You only sat down like five minutes ago." Abdul shrugged, almost sheepishly.

"The FBI isn't as technologically secure as it thinks it is."

"Now what? Can you just yank them outta there?" The students looked like they were amused by his comment, and traded glances. "I mean, what's the problem? If you have a trapdoor, can't you just jump in? Metaphorically of course."

"Then, we have a certain time frame to copy, delete, print or whatever you want to do with the files before they're flagged as corrupted, and pushed to an alert level three. They can also zone remotely into our location, if the guys who built these firewalls know how to use their codes." Abdul did not look like he was at all comfortable with what was going on. "Then, everyone will know where we are."

"Don't worry, we'll have what we need by then. But, it would be good if we kept under that time limit. Just in case." Don tried to keep his voice casual. He knew that panic would not help the process, especially because the students only knew half the story. Hell, he only knew half the story. For someone to freak out and run to Easton; that was the last thing that she needed. Abdul nodded, but still did not look convinced.

"Hey Eppes, come take a look about this." Nikki called, from where she was leaning next to David. Naturally, everyone else came along to see as well. "Those closed files are what Easton doesn't want us to see. I think I've found what Easton does want us to see." The details splayed across the screen were black and white, lined up in the format of financial records. AD Wright's financial records.

"What's the crime?" Don leaned next to Nikki, their shoulders touching. Both quelled the heat felt between her body, and concentrated on their shared curiousity for what was on the computer screen.

"Looks like a few transactions meant to be divided between Violent Crimes, Children Crimes, Media Liason and Internal Affairs Departments. These are quite general figures - but they were accessed the other day." David began, bringing up another window and showing them. "But not all of it adds up when it arrived at the separate departments. Turns out that even I can do the math and not everything that went out came in. Supposing that Wright took this money, which is what Easton wants us to think, he has about one hundred thousand dollars which even the finance department can't trace. They only deal with the money before it comes into every department."

"So this is the incriminating evidence that Edgerton wanted us to find." Nikki concluded, frowning at the screen and standing up straight. Her partner kept his focus on the laptop. "Should I call him or do you want to do the honours?" Her sarcasm wasn't noted as he concentrated on comprehending the so called evidence in front of them.

"You should do it. He doesn't trust me and we all know why he trusts you." The bluntness of his voice hit her like a bullet, and she inhaled sharply. Liz glared at her ex-boyfriend, angry at his impartialness, and crossed her arms across her chest. David as usual, tried to distance himself, and ignored what was going on around him.

Nikki watched Don with such venemousity that the students around them traded more looks, this time worried. Nevertheless, she flipped open her phone and found the contact number, pressing the correct button while she glared a hole in the back of her boss' head.

"Hey, Ian it's me." Immediately, everyone else in the office stilled and listened into the conversation, even though the students knew that it was none of their business. "Yeah, we found something on Wright. It looks like he's been taking money from a distribution fund. We're looking into the details now, but it definitely looks like he's dirty." Nikki looked at the floor, and turned herself away from her partner, as if she didn't want him to hear the words that she spoke next. "I guess you were right." Don's eyes stopped flitting across the screen, but he kept his gaze steady. A muscle twitched in his jaw. "Yeah, you too Ian." When she disconnected, Don avoided her gaze. Nikki looked equally disturbed though, and she felt the echoes of nausea from earlier.

"Now that we've told him we know, we can monitor what he's going to do." David told Liz, really just speaking out loud to order his own thoughts. "And..." He tapped the enter, and fell silent again as they heard the sound of breathing - presumably Ian's. The transcript was blank, though its cursor blinked irritatingly, waiting for speech to record. It never did.

There was extensive rustling, and the line went dead - no more audio. Don stared at the screen.

"What - what's going on?" He asked, nervously. "Did he find it?" Nikki paced away, rubbing her forehead.

"Fuck." She put, eloquently. "We're screwed, Eppes." Don threw himself back from the desk and strode over to the students, all of whom looked nervous at his anger.

"Can you get the files now?" Abdul nodded, and motioned to the only girl, an undergraduate named Kelly Cotton, who started to type away.

"Activating the trapdoor now, we need to move fast. We have three minutes approximately to find these things." As soon as she spoke the first words, all of the other students hunched over their laptops and typed at three times ten to the power of eight metres per second. The FBI agents sat back, unable to do anything really to help them except stay out of their way. It was the longest two minutes and twenty-seven seconds of their lives.

* * *

_I am hoping for a review before updating for the next chapter, because I would very much appreciate feedback. Furthermore, since I have had very little feedback so far in, I need confirmation that I should finish this story. Just a few moments of your time would mean the world to me. Thank you. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Ian cut his eyes to his reflection in the mirror, and noted how pale he seemed. Leaning against the sink, he squeezed the sides of the counter so tightly that it hurt. Often enough he found that thinking about his situation blocked out his physical pain. Here and now he was using pain to block out the sickness he felt stirring in the pit of his stomach, at the situation that he had brought upon himself.

He picked up his phone as it rang, and looked at the ID, still in a daze. It was Nikki, and he didn't know whether to be nervous or relieved.

"Nik?"

"Hey, Ian it's me."

"So have you found anything yet on Wright? There are no leads on where your professors are." Ian stared at his reflection while he lied, the severity of what he was saying grating down on his conscience as it screamed in his head.

"Yeah, we found something on Wright. It looks like he's been taking money from a distribution fund. We're looking into the details now, but it definitely looks like he's dirty." Ian of course knew that she would find that. He was the one who had put those records there. "I guess you were right."

"Don't thank me yet, there's still a lot of work we can do before we can present the evidence to AD Easton." Her silence unnerved him. "Remember Nik, we need to keep this on the down low until Easton approves that the evidence is real. I don't want anything to happen to you and Don just because I wanted a favour." Ian took a deep breath. "I just wanna keep you safe." That last bit wasn't a lie.

"Yeah, you too Ian." She hung up first, leaving Ian to his silence.

As soon as he had picked up the phone, he had known there was something wrong. The signal was fine, but there was a lot of interference. If he had still been in the office, he would have thought nothing of the interference, but in the empty mens' restroom, he somehoe doubted he had too much proximity to other electronic devices. Which meant that he had something on him that was causing the interference.

Patting himself down, trying to remember a time when anyone could have planted anything on him, he pulled out the contents of his pockets and dropped them on the counter next to his cellphone. There was the usual - car keys, his gun, his badge, a few scraps of paper and a receipt, but there was also a small device, looking a little like a cellphone sim card. Immediately, he snapped it into two smaller pieces, and watched as those pieces tumbled down the drain.

Someone had been listening to him.

Ian gritted his teeth as he shoved his gun back into his waistband. He had suspected that Easton may pull a stunt like that; a dirty agent trusts no one, even the person he was leaning on to cover his lying ass.

Bad move, Easton.

**

* * *

Don was sitting with his head in his hands opposite his brother's empty chair when David sidled up, careful not to startle him and pulling up a seat for himself.**

"Hey, Don." His boss merely grunted in reply. "Colby just called in to say that people are easing up on the security. They're not looking for us anymore, but he's off of Edgerton's account, and he's managed to get into the Internal Affairs database; he knows a guy who's on a sick day. They have higher security, and the point is that no one can get a lock on what he's doing. Also, level five clearance." Once more, Don offered no more proper English than a neanderthal. "But of course that might change as soon as Edgerton reports that we bugged him." Don merely rubbed his head, exhausted.

"Do the undergrads have the files yet?"

"They loaded the files fine within the time limit and we've copied them into everyone's servers, including a couple of people who I trust completely on a different mainframe, just in case something happens to ours. They'll get the case evidence as it comes to them, and they'll keep it safe." The glance that Don threw David was indisputably proud.

"Good work. What does the file say?"

"The printouts - ah." He accepted a wad of papers from Liz, who returned to her space next to Nikki. She was still angry for what Don had said to their newest agent, not because she was particularly close to her, but because he was way out of line.

"It's financial data." He was surprised. Would this come down to something as simple as money? "Money flow patterns indicate there's something severely wrong with the financial system."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm department head, David. I have to deal with all this crap otherwise we would have to buy our own staples. This is the stage before it hits the finance deparment and is divided up to be sent to the other departments. I've never seen it all showed out like this."

"Don, do you think that Easton was taking money?"

"Get Colby to send over the official sheets. If he has IA clearance, he'll be able to access them no problem."

"Why don't we just go to see Wright? If he's investigating money flow, there's a good chance that it's connected to this."

"Or it could be a complete coincidence and we've wasted four hours following the wrong leads." Don shook his head. "We wait until we've compiled everything, and compared this against officially channeled money flow charts." The last thing they needed now was a false connection. That wouldn't help him find Charlie.

Don surveyed the printouts analytically, as David watched in. They had been working together for almost exactly four years now, and he liked to think he had a good read on the older agent. Almost without even looking at his expression, he could tell that the department head was worried. Not about the evidence as such. He was worried about what the evidence would mean, in terms of Charlie and Amita. David did not miss the anxious glance Don threw at his brother's empty chair, across the desk loaded with graphs and scribbled equations in Charlie's distinctive handwriting.

"We'll find Charlie, Don. And Amita. Easton won't hurt them." The missing word - 'yet' - hung heavy in the air. "Plus, once you phone the DA-"

"We can't involve the DA without ensuring Charlie and Amita's safety first. The truth is that we don't back a bloody clue how Easton will react to us finding this. He might try to kill them and pin it on someone else, maybe even Wright. I still think that he'll pull out a hit on him as well, but we can't exactly tip him off without looking pretty damn guilty ourselves. All we have right now is circumstantial evidence, and Easton has the resources of the entire FBI." Don rambled, his voice increasing in both volume and pitch. His second in command winced, having already silently contemplated this.

"Don, there's no way we could know where they are without Easton's cooperation. He doesn't want to get the death penalty. He'll definitely make a deal-"

"We don't know that." Angrily, Don lurched off of the chair, with such force that it skidded backwards away from his body "If you could just keep looking into Easton's background, we could find where he's keeping Charlie!" Only Nikki, who remained bitter after his earlier jibe at her relationship with Ian, had the heart to reply.

"Eppes, you know as well as we do that their best chance is if you call the DA! Think about all of your other cases-"

"This isn't any of my other cases!" They were shouting now, even though they were metres close. "This is my brother we're talking about. My little brother. I swore to protect him when he took the consulting position at the FBI, and I promised that nothing would even happen to him because of it. Now, I don't know where he is; even if he's alive or not! You want me to do something which I know might result in his death. Like I said, Nikki, this isn't alike any of my other cases. I can't live with having to make that choice."

Broken, shaking and scared, he stared at Nikki and the desperation in his eyes reminded her that he was just as human as the rest of them. Ridiculously fragile. For once he didn't know what to do. While his brain told him to do one thing, his heart told him another, and that terrified him. Not knowing, terrified him.

The undergraduates averted their eyes, knowing that this was none of their business, as his partner walked slowly forwards, hands out in front of her like she was showing him that she had nothing in her hands. No weapons, she just wanted to talk.

"I know that you're frustrated right now, but there's nothing else that we can do." She bent slightly to see his face, reading his expression correctly as one of frustration and fear. "This is your baby brother so you're right. This is not just another case. But we still need to do whatever we think has the best chance of success. To get him, back, good and safe." David had wordlessly and obediently retrieved Don's chair and pushed it close behind him so Nikki held his arms as he sat down, staring into space helplessly.

"I think I can help with that." A soft yet steady voice came from the doorway. Everyone jumped, and the agents' hands all twitched automatically to their waistbands.

Ian sighed, and placed his weapon slowly on a nearby table, before backing away from it, the whole time trying to obtain eye contact with Nikki, who seemed as surprised as the rest of them.

"What are you doing here?" Don's tone could have sawed through steel, but Ian seemed unaffected.

"You want Professors Eppes and Rumanujan back?" Ian shrugged, careful to keep his hands fully visible. "You're not going to be able to do it alone."

**

* * *

**

"Who cares, Eppes? He's doing the right thing now!" Nikki hissed, knowing that Ian could no doubt hear her, but keeping her voice low all the same.

"He might just be covering his own ass, 'cause he realised that we were onto him." Looking around at the rest of the team, Nikki noted that they avoided her eye contact. They agreed with Don, and rightly so. Was she deluding herself in thinking that Ian was trying to redeem himself? Or was it so simple as she wasn't ready to admit that she was wrong in their first place?

"He's doing this because he thinks that Easton bugged him. He feels betrayed." Nikki's words revealed as much about her feelings to her as they did to Don. Her boss' expression softened slightly, as he realised why she was really objecting. It wasn't because she believed that Ian felt betrayed. It was because she felt like she was the one who betrayed him.

"Don't feel guilty for what you did, Nikki." He muttered, moving closer to her, and blocking out the rest of the world. "It was the right thing to do."

"But what if-"

"Let it go. You've done what you've done, and no one thinks any less of you for doing so but yourself." The boss tone was creeping back, like an overactive defense mechanism. "Regardless, if Edgerton can be trusted, he can earn it." There was a certain sharpness to his tone which woke his partner up. She couldn't hold them up like this while Charlie and Amita were still out there, and while they were still in danger. She swallowed hard.

"Do you still think that Easton will pull out a hit on Wright, then try to destroy the evidence?"

"Now that Easton has no one to run his dirty errands for him, he might go to a last resort. I don't know exactly what they means, but it definitely doesn't sound good." Don's voice was once again a normal volume, and he broke away from the controlled, private conversation he and Nikki were partaking in. "Which means, people, that we need the financial data to be enough for a conviction."

The agents all looked at one another. They were all too aware that it wasn't going to be enough for a conviction.

"It's not enough to put him away, but it's enough tto hold him until you find more." Ian voiced what they were all thinking. "Once you find Charlie, and the men who took him, connections will be made." No one looked all too convinced but Ian's argument.

David, who had been lingering by the printer, suddenly re-entered the fray and handed Don a bunch of papers. Don blinked, slightly thrown off guard.

"What is this?" He flicked through the first few pages, brow creased in confusion. "This is a case file for that guy who died last year. The one in Internal Affairs."

"Agent..." Liz snapped her fingers, trying to remember the name at the corner of his memory. "Duncan. Lyle Duncan, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one, but it was closed a good while ago. By AD Easton." Don leaned back in his chair, eyes wide in disbelief. "This is the evidence that we're hedging our bets on?"

"First of all, two weeks ago, Easton tried to delete the personnel file, and the case file. But, the programmes that Amita adapted for us, Colby was able to restore it. Look at the second page. It says no open assignments, but Colby also checked Duncan's supervisory logs in the archives, and it says that he was investigating someone in the Bureau."

"Like most Internal Affairs agents do." Don added, scathingly, then winced. "Sorry David, keep going." While an agent who did not know Don as well would have backed off after his dry comment, David, who had known him for long enough, appeared unaffected by the remark.

"It's okay. It just proves that someone lied in the write-up of the file."

"Which was done by Internal Affairs?" Don skimmed to the bottom of the page, where his eyebrows shot up and he was proven wrong. "AD Wright personally oversaw this case."

"Which could explain why Easton wants Wright to look dirty: he knows that something was up with Easton." Nikki added from the sidelines from where she was thinking hard. "Did Idaho get us the finance records as well?"

"Yeah, Idaho's pretty good at paper trails." Liz grinned at Colby's new nickname, and made a mental note to try it out sometimes later on. "They're printing now." Nikki ambled over to the printer, the wound across her back beginning to suck away the agility and alertness that she usually possessed. Don noticed, but decided that her judgement was not impaired, and hoped that he had made the right call.

"Here." She rounded the desk to sit by Don, helping him spread out all of the evidence they had, putting Duncan's file to one side, and comparing the official money flow to Wright's version. Things were starting to come together when they realised that they were very different.

"About point seven-five percent of the resource disappears between the board grant and the finance department." Nikki told the others, who were waiting with bated breath. One of the students made a face.

"I don't wanna seem obnoxious here, but that doesn't seem like a lot, considering that he's risking his career and freedom for it." Kelly Cotton voiced, and in response, Don leaned over the desk and showed her the numbers. "Oh."

"Yeah. That's a lot of money at that stage. I can't believe that no one's noticed this in the finance department." Nikki said, incredulously, but her partner shrugged.

"They assume that they get it how the board gives it. Easton handles the money, Wright handles the media - they don't generally both look at money flow. The finance department isn't in correspondence with the board, so they only know what the AD tells them." Don shook his head. "It's a good system with clean agents."

"Yeah, but with dirty agents, it's a genius scam." Nikki said, sounding almost appreciative. "No seriously," She continued, as her partner frowned at her. "Who would think to check that?"

"Easton's a smart guy, and this explains everything." David cut in, still looking through his copy of the Duncan file. "Easton's getting money from his scam, and everything seems fine, until Agent Duncan becomes suspicious of most likely the change in numbers, voices his concerns to AD Wright. Easton finds out and he has Duncan killed, before any real evidence can be given, but Wright doesn't let it go. So he investigates, making sure that the files are protected so even Easton can't read them. Easton can't pull a hit on Wright like he did with Duncan; he's too high profile, so he tries to erase the evidence, and frame him for the very thing that he was doing in the first place. It'll look just like it was Wright all along. People don't dig too deep in on a dirty agent because it shames the Bureau."

"But Wright could tell the truth." Liz countered, nervously. "Nik said that Easton could be pulling a hit on Wright." Nikki looked both surprised and pleased at her own new nickname. Although it seemed small and trivial in comparison to the situation at hand, it was a small comfort that she was now accepted. She was part of the team.

"Then, there would be an investigation into his death." She contributed.

"Not if it looked like an unrelated event, or even a natural death." Liz shot back, and Nikki nodded.

"Yeah, that makes sense, but something else doesn't." Everyone looked at her intently, waiting for her input. She had the floor now. "I mean, why would he kidnap Charlie and Amita? They weren't the easiest of targets. Also, why did they leave Larry behind?"

"Larry was out cold, and you and Edgerton were advancing fast. There's a good chance that they simply didn't have time." David offered, but even he didn't want to say the obvious, glancing sideways at Don. "Maybe they were just distraction targets." The other agents seemed unconvinced.

"But you're right, this probably has a connection to Don, or even Charlie himself." Ian added from the side. He was standing a while away, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Clearly distancing himself. "Amita was taken because she was Charlie's girlfriend. Professionals always take a plus one, a woman if possible. They're easier to break."

The students visibly shrank back, shocked equally by the implications of Ian's words, and the coldness in his voice when he said them. Don froze, and David, who was sitting near him, almost felt the anger rising. His whole body was tensed. Nikki sat up, also tense, determined to diffuse the situation. The last thing they needed was for Don to shoot Ian now.

"If he needed something that Charlie knew to disappear, then why would he have someone kidnap him? I can't figure what he has to gain, here." Which only meant one thing.

Don visibly paled, further than he had at Ian's harsh comment. His little brother had information that a dirty agent wanted, which could only mean one thing: that dirty agent would be trying to get it back.

By any means necessary.

**

* * *

**

_Long chapter, I know, and I hope that you didn't get too bored. I realise that I'm moving quite fast, so if anyone has any questions about the plot or the conspiracy, don't hesitate to review or PM me and tell me your issues. I've tried to keep things simple, but my mind works a little differently to everyone else's, which causes a lot of problems in everyday life. I've also tried to keep things American, but because I'm British, I don't know how that's all going. Tell me how I'm doing. Thanks. _

_-Seven x x_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten **

Whispers and murmurs in the dark - nothing was visible except the crushing darkness around his and the pounding, throbbing feeling in his head, which increased as he tried to listen harder. As he tried to remember what had happened.

What had happened? Where were Amita and Larry? Were they alive? Was he alive?

Charlie groaned, curling into the fetal position. Yes he was definitely alive. He was in far too much pain to be dead.

"Charlie?" The voice was barely a whisper, but it echoed in the darkness. This murmur was much closer than the other fuzzy ones which he heard in the distance. It was close - perhaps even next to him. Charlie would have been alarmed, had he not recognized the voice was someone he knew very well.

"'Mita?" He mumbled, the aching of his bruised jaw slurring and blurring his words. "Where..." A coughing fit overcame him, and by the end of it, he was gagging, a metallic taste flooding his tongue unpleasantly. Amita understood the question nonetheless.

"I don't know where we are, I can't see anything. It's too dark." Lying on the cold, hard floor, Charlie was glad that he hadn't imagined the darkness.

"Well it must still be night then." He forced himself to think rationally, the cold and the dampness of the stone beneath them seeping through his clothes and causing him to shiver. The rapid, jerking movement merely made his bruises feel worse. Whoever had brought them here had clearly not been too careful. It felt as if a truck had rolled over his ribs, before reversing back onto his face. "We haven't been unconscious for days, or anything."

"Yeah, then we'd be in trouble." Charlie was unsure if he could detect sarcasm in her voice or not. "Why is this happening?" Climbing octaves, her voice betrayed her panic, which he could not see in the blackness between them. Charlie felt hands in the blackness, clamping clumsily onto his shoulders, and softening their grip when he gasped. "Oh my God... Charlie, are you hurt?"

"I don't know. I don't think anything's broken, but I don't... it's just too dark to tell." The cold and the numbness of his limbs confused his comprehension of where the pain was coming from. All he knew was that there was pain. Lots of pain.

He heard Amita shift in the dark.

"Stay still, until we work out what's happening." Footsteps echoed, all around them it seemed, and Charlie could hear Amita tensing. The heavy footsteps paused outside the door, and for a whole minute, no one moved. Charlie could have sworn that his heart stopped beating in the stretched seconds which passed. The footsteps echoed again then faded away. A door opened and closed. He blew a sigh of relief.

They were safe for now.

* * *

"Don, it's Colby. I think I've found something more, which is kind of disturbing." Don ceased momentarily in his pacing, and the lack of movement attracted Nikki's attention, and she raised her head from her hands to look at him curiously. Everyone else was preoccupied with their computers or their phones, so no one but Don noticed how badly she was shaking.

"Shoot, Colb." Don's voice was raspy from dehydration and sleep deprivation. The entire team had dark bags beneath their eyes, and Ian looked no better. "You're on speakerphone." Don placed his phone in the middle of Charlie's desk, speaking loudly, and David, Liz and Ian immediately halted their processes and gathered around.

"I conducted a preliminary search through Easton's system, after finding Duncan's file. There are traces of messages which Amita's programme also found on in his e-mail service. Don, they're from Charlie." Colby's words were met by no one, and Charlie's office sat in stunned silence, attempting to process. "Guys?" Don cleared his throat.

"Yeah. We're still here."

"I don't know what they're about yet, I haven't had the time to check them, but it looks like Charlie and Wright were in close contact. Top secret correspondence. I would have missed it, but Amita has another system that does something clever and I caught it." The team almost smiled at Colby's explanation. "If you look through Charlie's computer, you'll be able to see the e-mails, and if not, I'm sending them to David's laptop." Colby was heard, clicking away at the computer in the background of the call.

There was a beep and David confirmed from nearby, as Don turned to Charlie's desktop, while Nikki checked out his laptop. Ian was kept well away from the entire procedure, not trusted enough to look over anyone's shoulder.

"There's nothing here that is useful to us." Nikki grumbled finally, motioning towards the laptop and grimacing as the movement shot pain up and down her back. "Kelly, could you?" The young woman took the laptop directly from the older woman's lap, trying to keep the fact that Nikki was sore when she moved between them out of pity. Nonetheless, everyone noticed.

"If you can't do your job, Betancourt, go home. This isn't your fight." Don said, keeping his eyes all the while on the desktop. Knowing that this would develop into one argument or another, David stepped between them and gave Nikki a warning look not to reply. Don would have pressed the subject, once more using her as on outlet for his residual anger from the situation at hand, but then he leaned closer to his computer, frowning at whatever he had found.

"There's an account here, which matches the financial files which Easton was trying to hide. The ones which implied he was taking .75% for himself." Don announced, completely confused, and as Nikki glanced sideways at Ian to gauge his reaction, she realized that it was a complete shock to him as well.

"Charlie was in on this?" Ian asked, barely able to believe his ears. Don shook his head, completely unable to believe that his brother was a part of this scandal.

"It can't be. It must have been a case that he run."

"Why would he still have the accounts?" David asked, regretting instantly that he sounded like he was agreeing with Ian, which would inevitably piss off Don more. "I mean, Charlie may not be an agent, but he still knows that once you finish a case, everything you have on it goes into a file, and stays there for security purposes." David shook his head at the screen, leaning over Don's chair.

"So what, you're saying that someone is framing the guy who was kidnapped by the guy who was framing his colleague?" Kelly Cotton asked, sounding slightly doubtful. "And I thought that combinatorics were confusing."

"Is that what you think is going on? Is someone framing Charlie?" David asked, but Don only leaned further into the screen, squinting further. He held up a hand to silence his agent, and the entire room stood to attention, ready to listen for when he was ready to speak.

"The e-mails from AD Wright." He said, finally, mouth shaped in a small confused o. "Why would Charlie have them?" For once, none of his people had an answer, sarcastic or otherwise, so they merely stood behind him, racking their brains for a reason Charlie would have to be involved in everything.

"I don't know what to say about that..." Liz began, still pondering. "But I think I know how we can lock down Easton until we piece together the entire investigation, so he can't interfere."

"I'm all ears." Don said, dryly, but Liz wisely ignored his tone.

"Edgerton gave me a printout which has the same as the financial details which we found planted in Wright's system. If we can find the template on Easton's system, then that is enough cause as well as Edgerton's testimony that Charlie and Amita are being held on his word, to get the DA involved." Don nodded, pointing towards the doorway.

"You and David take all that we've compiled and talk to AD Wright. Edgerton, you go back to the FBI and talk with Colby. You look into possible contacts that he might have who could have taken Charlie." Don continued to look through the e-mails, as the agents in question left the room. "The content of these messages is encrypted." Looking over to the undergraduates pointedly, he stood as they nodded and took over the desk.

"Boss?" Nikki asked, eyes wide as she looked at him expectantly, as if asking 'and what about me?'. Don threw her a sideways look, weighing up everything as he pulled on his jacket.

"You stay here and call me if anything happens." He began to walk away, but she caught his arm, even though it caused her discomfort to move so quickly. It was now a dull ache, and it was making her feel sick.

"Wait, Don." Surprised at the unsarcastic use of his first name, Don didn't speak and merely listened, for once. "Where are you going?"

"To go speak to my dad." Don said, almost guiltily. "I left him at the FBI, and he's still waiting for a ransom call while I'm... I just think we need to talk about some stuff." Nikki cocked her head to the side, brow creased as she surveyed her partner.

"This doesn't mean that you broke your promise; you know that, right?" She said, so softly that he nearly missed it.

"What?"

"Your promise." She clarified, and he raised his eyebrows to show that he did not know what his promise was. "You said that you made a promise to protect Charlie, when he started to consult for you." Turning his head away slightly, her partner tried to pull his arm away, but she refused to let go. If he had really wanted to, he could have pulled away, but he was too comfortable with the contact between them to break it completely.

"And you think that I have protected him?" Don scoffed, clearly believing the exact opposite. "He's at an unknown location, God knows in what condition, and he wouldn't have been involved-"

"If by some sort of twisted logic, you're thinking that it's your fault that this is happening because you got him involved in the FBI, sorry to break it to you boss, but you're wrong." Nikki sassed, crossing her arms across her chest and raising her eyebrows, and she seemed a lot more like she usually did, if a little more tired. The normalcy of her demeanour relaxed him.

"If I hadn't let him consult for the FBI-" Don argued, showing her that he was thinking what she thought he had been thinking.

"A lot of people would have died as a result, and a lot of bad people would have walked free. He's been an asset and from what I've heard, you've both grown closer." Nikki interrupted, not wanting to hear about what he thought when she knew that it was wrong. "One choice could have averted this crisis, and another choice may have made it worse. There's no way to know that if he hadn't started working at the FBI, one of the guys which you wouldn't have caught with Charlie's help would have killed him on a random shooting spree."

Don frowned at her, and sighed, his body sagging slightly against hers, and was immediately glad that he had not pulled his arm away. The contact was no longer just comforting, it was supporting, and he closed his eyes, willing himself to believe her.

"That doesn't mean that I feel any worse for all of this. Charlie does the math, and sticks to the sidelines while I'm supposed to be the one who gets his ass in trouble and messes about in stuff that's out of his league."

"You mean Liz?" Nikki asked, unable to resist the blatant joke she could make out of his statement. Smiling slightly at the refreshing dose of reality that his partner had just offered, he did not reply further, so she continued. "But seriously, Don. I know that you were the one outside playing baseball while he was pondering Pythagoras as kids, but you are both fully grown men. I think you believe me when I say that Charlie's a smart guy, and he wouldn't have done... whatever it was he did, without a damn smart reason." Don sighed.

"Yeah, I know." He admitted, finally, still looking at the ground. "But he's still my little brother. See, while he was pondering Pythagoras, I was the one who kept half of the jocks in high school from kicking his ass. Protecting Charlie has been programmed into my mind from a very young age, ever since he was first bullied in kindergarten. It might be a slightly different situation, but I still have the same job. Protect my kid brother."

"I don't know about anyone else, Eppes, but I think that you do a good job of that usually." Don began to grin.

"Was that a compliment, Betancourt?" Nikki shook her head, mocking a horrified expression, and Don chuckled in his deep, steady tones. They reverberated through his arm and over to hers, making her shiver slightly. He noticed, and leaned further into her, burying his face in her neck and almost smiling as her exuberant hair tickled his cheek. Suddenly, inexplicably, from some sort of strange affect of the mixture of starvation, sleep deprivation and stress, she giggled.

She felt one eyebrow raise against her neck, and a smile forming.

"We need to work. I need to go talk to my father." He muttered, pulling away from her, as if suddenly realising that they were still in a public place. Forcing a less content look onto her face, Nikki nodded in agreement, and shifted uncomfortably as her shirt moved across her back. His hands, moving almost of their own accord, reached over and pulled her shirt up, slowly as to allow her to turn around and hold the fabric across her chest.

"How do I look?" Nikki asked, grimly, knowing that gunshot grazes were not the most attractive of wounds. And wounds in themselves are not very attractive things.

"Beautiful." Don commented, meaning the state of her wound, but immediately blushing at his own choice of words. Grinning, Nikki looked over her shoulder at him.

"Was that a compliment, Eppes?"

"Maybe." He joked back, and was about to turn away when suddenly she twisted into his arms again, hands falling to his chest. Humor faded, and they stared at each other for a minute, evaluating features and the perfection they saw in each other. Self control was no longer needed, because neither was at all aware that there was anyone else in the room at all, as they moved closer, each gazing helplessly at each other, desperately needing the contact, but at the same time searching for any indication that the other wanted to stop.

Their lips connected, and there was something so tender about their skin on skin contact which made Don tense up and Nikki relax. Two bodies pressed up together, seeking comfort and warmth and clamouring for something they'd been tempted by for the best part of a week. Pure, raw human contact.

"Eppes, I need you to call Granger, to tell him what's going on." An outside voice made them pull away, embarrassed at being caught in such a vulnerable position. Nikki couldn't even look when she realised that it was the man she had been kissing two weeks before, when they had gone to a cinema and made out in the backseats. She felt so much more distant to him now. So much closer to Don.

"Yeah, I'll call him now. You make your way over and I'll get him to meet you in the 16th floor archives." Don barked, though his voice was slightly shaky from the sudden adrenaline which was being pumped through his body. Nikki's body had that effect on his. Ian watched him coolly, not even looking at the woman he had once made out with in the back seats of the cinema two weeks before.

Ian nodded undeniably cold thanks, before shooting Nikki a glance and striding away, clearly determined to deal with present issues in the present, and other present but less urgent issues in the future when the aforementioned present issues have been dealt with.

Don followed him out of the room shortly afterwards, pulling out his phone as he went and shooting Nikki one last look.

"Don..." Raising his eyebrows, he stopped short of the door and once more the students gathered in the corner pretended not to notice. "Where do we stand?" The older agent sent a long, lingering look at his partner before shrugging, and answering, very honestly:

"You know more than I do."

_..._

_Hope you liked that chapter... I realise that it's been a while since I've updated, and I'm sorry to anyone who bothers enough to read it regularly. Please review, to tell me what you think of everything in and out of this chapter._

_-Seven x x _


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